Although they were written nearly four centuries apart, the short story Woman Hollering Creek and the poem They Flee from Me explore similar themes of the pure human experience such as the power struggle of love, human perception, and the unpredictability of life. In both Woman Hollering Creek by Sandra Cisneros and They Flee from Me by Sir Thomas Wyatt, a recurring metaphor of love being a power struggle is present between the main subjects of each writing. For example, in They flee from me, the speaker reminisces on when he held the upper hand on the lover who once put herself at great risk to visit his chambers and “take bread at my hand” (Wyatt line 6). However, the power shifts to the woman in the relationship as she eventually distances …show more content…
In the end, she snatches back the power that her husband stole from her and leaves. Although both stories were written nearly four centuries apart, their shared message that love is a power struggle continues to persist in today’s society and will likely continue forever. Additionally, there is an overlying sense of irony throughout each of the texts. At the beginning, they flee from me, the speaker describes how he was once on the top of the food chain and how he reveled in the fact that his lover actively sought after him. Yet, by the end of the poem, the speaker has seemingly switched roles with his lover, who now avidly avoids him. He is now the one who tries to seek her out, to no avail. Conversely, at the beginning of Woman Hollering Creek, Cleófilas is convinced that in an abusive or dangerous situation, she would react like the strong female Telenovela characters she watches on television. Ironically, when she eventually finds herself in that exact situation, she is unable to find the will to stand up for herself and
In these two stories “A Rose for Emily’’ by William Faulkner, and “Good Country People’’ by Flannery O’Connor, there is controversy between two women, Emily and Hulga. The protagonists, Emily and Hulga, deal with many things as in being from a small town and being unattractive. Emily and Hulga’s town show some sympathy throughout the stories. I believe they are sympathized for because, they struggle for love, then finally find love, and then lose love.
“Sweat” by Zora Neale Hurston and “Woman Hollering Creek” by Sandra Cisneros have common themes of spousal abuse and gender power struggles. The female characters roles within their household are very different. Cleofilas is forced to stay home alone with no car while her husband works. Delia on the other hand makes the living for her household while her husband Sykes lives off of her wages and does as he pleases, including cheating on her. The female characters in both stories find freedom from their abuse and struggles with their husbands, but they find freedom in very different ways. Another woman aids Cleofilas in her escape, and she has somewhere to go, back to her family. Delia has to put up with her abuse for 15 years of marriage, far
Disillusion is defined as “the condition of being dissatisfied or defeated in expectation or hope” especially in the case of love (“Disillusion”). This is the case for the two protagonists in the written works “Woman Hollering Creek” by Sandra Cisneros and “Hills Like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway. The two short stories share a similar theme of the protagonists’ suffering from disillusions, their resolutions are extremely different due to the epiphanies.
She gets terrified and self-conscious and runs away because she thinks that he is only staying with her because his devotion felt more like a curse than actual love. In this piece of text you can catch heaps of similes and metaphors like, “Those calves, I swear, like bricks” (Rassette, 31), “He kept his dreams of us tucked away, hoarded them like those gas-station receipts he jams into the back pocket of his jeans” (Rassette, 32), “He’s charming, but in a dusty way, like the chimes of an old clock” (Rassette, 34), “Now I felt shriveled and curled, more like a fetus feasting on a conjoined twin than a mother growing a son” (Rassette, 31); this quote can also fit into the imagery category, even though it’s a bit too gory for readers to read about love. I picked this piece of text because it is one of those cliché stories where there is always a happy ending. It is also told in first person point of view, along with the other two
Sandra Cisneros short story “Woman Hollering Creek”, has many allegories about culture, morality, and gender roles.
The setting of both stories reinforces the notion of women's dependence on men. The late 1800's were a turbulent time for women's roles. The turn of the century brought about revolution, fueled by the energy and freedom of a new horizon…but it was still just around the bend. In this era, during which both short stories were published, members of the weaker sex were blatantly disregarded as individuals, who had minds that could think, and reason, and form valid opinions.
The stream gained its title from a woman who drowned her baby in the creek and went hollering through the night afterwards. Cleόfilas is curious to know the meaning behind the creeks name but her neighbor appear to be clueless. The abuse in the marriage becomes persistently severe. Cleόfilas visits a physician name Graciela that recognizes the bruises Cleόfilas has gained at the hands of her husband. Due to the circumstances of Cleόfilas’ situation, Graciela plans her escape. Graciela asks a woman, Felcie, to take Cleόfilas to the Greyhound bus station to return to her family back in Mexico. Felcie complies and Cleόfilas departs from her home and from Woman Hollering
Mullen, Harryette. "A Silence Between Us Like A Language: The Ultra Translatability of Experience in Sandra Cisneros's Woman Hollering Creek." Melus. Vol. 21 Issue 2, 1996: 3-21.
Throughout history women have learned to find a voice against men through writing. Writing has been a medium where women have learned to speak their minds and allow their ideas to be broadcasted to the world. Women have used writing to discuss issues, such as discrimination, inequality, sexual frustrations, and many more that they have dealt with. In the poem, “A Loyal Woman’s No”, written by Lucy Larcom. She gives power to women to say no to men. Her poem discusses the issues that many women face. They face issues of men taking advantage of them, men objectifying them and using them. However, Larcom’s poem shows a clear progress of women standing up against men, and being firm in saying no to them. Larcom has given women the ability to stand up to man and show the true power that women have over men. Many women fear standing up to men due to the repercussions of their actions, however, Lucy Larcom uses the symbolism of nature and her rhetoric to show a woman’s true power against men and say no and to free themselves of the rigid grasp that so many men have over women.
Women Hollering Creek was considered one of Sandra Cisnero's best works. With a Texan view, this 22 short story novel was set upon the late 1960's to 1980's era. There are three distinct sections: “My Lucy Friend who smells like Corn”, “One Holy Night” as well as “There was a Man, There was a Woman”. Each part contains short stories within them. These all consist of a heartwarming girl, Esperanza,who matures into a woman and how she faces these gender roles through love and violence. Cisneros alters the name Esperanza with Chayo, Rachel, Lupe, Ines, and Clemenica, to explain differences between them along with to give the story more lewd effectiveness.
Intertwined in allusions to women of Mexican history and folklore, making it clear that women across the centuries have suffered the same alienation and victimization, Cisneros presents a woman who struggles to prevail over romantic notions of domestic bliss by leaving her husband. In the story Woman Hollering Creek, Sandra Cisneros discusses the issues of living life as a married woman through a character named Cleófilas; a character who is married to a man who abuses her physically and mentally. Cisneros reveals the way the culture puts a difference between a male and a female, men above women. In Woman Hollering Creek, we see a young Mexican woman, who suddenly moves across the border and gets married. The protagonist, Cleófilas’ character is based on a family of a six brothers and a dad and without a mom, and the story reveals around her inner feelings and secrets.
“I’d been with people in the five years since transitioning, but one night stands left me with some kernel of sadness. This person simply did not care that I had a penis.” (Keller 132). In Ammi Keller’s Isaac Cameron Hill, the topic of gender is intertwined with the story of two individuals, a transgender woman and a transgender man. It documents the chance encounters throughout their life that result in them both becoming large parts of each other’s lives. The story is told from the point of view of an unnamed transgender woman who is describing the life of a transgender man named Isaac Cameron Hill, while also offering reflections into her own life as a result. The work spans from Isaac’s childhood to his approach towards the middle age
In an audio Interview, done by Don Swain, Cisneros explains how she got the title of the story." The Creek" she says "is a real place" she explains how she wanted the title to be in Spanish but she wasn't allowed to; the reason, she explained, was because she was a Mexican woman. "The creek called La Gretna is a reminiscent of popular folktale about La Lorona, a nameless tragic woman drowned herself and her children"(Mullen 1).Cisneros creates the character from a background which explains why she doesn't know what the reality of life is; she comes from a family of a six brothers and a dad and without a mom, a male dominated family. Jeff Thomas, from the article" What is Called Heaven" says: "The union of gender, and gender based ideologies, is essential to the strong, feminine characters of the later stories of Woman Hollering Creek."(l) What Thomas means is that Cisnores focuses more on gender problems, discriminations and the conflicts in this story rather than love story and the lifestyle. Although Cleofilas finds a way to learn her womanly attributes, through television series .she imagines her ideal life through television series which she watches religiously. Cisneros created a great example. In the third world countries, communication outside of a city or country is very hard, so Cisneros used the telenovelas as the only tool for Cleofilas to see how life can sometimes be. She doesn't know being beaten by her husband is not a normal thing. She is living in the suburbs with her husband with neighbors who in their own way, are trapped as well. Cisneros also shows how life can be for Cleofilas when a mom is not present to guide heir, again, Cleofilas's only guide are the television series.
Throughout the 19th century, feminism played a huge role in society and women’s everyday lifestyle. Women had been living in a very restrictive society, and soon became tired of being told how they could and couldn’t live their lives. Soon, they all realized that they didn’t have to take it anymore, and as a whole they had enough power to make a change. That is when feminism started to change women’s roles in society. Before, women had little to no rights, while men, on the other hand, had all the rights. The feminist movement helped earn women the right to vote, but even then it wasn’t enough to get accepted into the workforce. They were given the strength to fight by the journey for equality and social justice. There has been known to be
The relation of man and woman is one of the most complex subjects in the world. Nobody can say for sure why a relationship is good, or when a relationship goes badly. “What We Talk about When We Talk about Love” by Raymond Caver and “Hills like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway, both of the stories described those complexities in relationships. Though the stories have unique premises, they share more similarities than differences; they are basically two sides of a coin. In both of the stories, men were possessive and demanding, disagreements between the couples were very strong, women were submissive to their men, and the couples were not necessarily in love even though they were living together.