Sandra Cisneros Woman Hollering Creek

Expectations are natural to have when events in our lives are left up to chance. It can give us hope and build our passion, but that is not always the case. In “Woman Hollering Creek” by Sandra Cisneros, the Mexican protagonist, Cleófilas, is excited to move to Seguin, Texas with her husband in order to find passion and love similar to that in the books, songs, and telenovelas she obsesses over. However, she was kept from becoming the dimensional woman she dreamed of because of the patriarchal figures in her life, particularly her husband; she instead followed traditional cultural values that taught her men were more dominant than women in society, a woman was meant to become a mother and a housewife, and a woman’s dream is far from reality.

Her world expectations that derived from her (now unreliable) telenovelas were shattered.
Marriage is a common expectation for people of many cultures, but that did not prevent Cleófilas from romanticizing hers with Juan Pedro. The small town in which the protagonist grew up in did not provide much platform for dreams to come true, so her escape to Texas was what she thought she needed. The stories she dedicated her time to “[described] when one finds, finally, the great love of one’s life, and does whatever one can, must do, at whatever the cost” (Cisneros, 220). Cleófilas imagined her marriage to be something worth fighting because of its great depth and sincerity. However, she was left with a man who abused her, physically and mentally, a love that is never worth preserving. If the time ever came that a man hit her, she believed she would strike back, “but when the moment came, and he slapped her once, and then again, and again, until the lip split and bled an orchid of blood, she didn’t fight back…” (Cisneros, 222). Before, she has already envisioned herself in some way, that she would come out a heroine in her story, but instead she comforted the man who was asking for forgiveness by stroking his hair. The telenovelas Cleófilas adores told her love was worth everything, and with the addition of traditional values, she put her man above her, like she was conformed to do.
In many societies, the disparities between male and female expectations are alarming. Regarding their future, women have a very limited range of options: many become housewives and mothers because that is what is expected of them. These cultures ask men to seek permission from fathers to marry their daughters, exchanging ownership of a woman from a father to a husband. Cleófilas’ duties consist of cleaning diapers and bathrooms, while Juan goes out “where he won’t be bothered with the baby’s howling and her suspicious questions…” (Cisneros, 223). Because of her fixation on fictional stories, Cleófilas imagined marrying someone who appreciated “telenovelas or romance or roses or the moon floating pearly over the arroyo [stream], or through the bedroom window for that matter…” (Cisneros, 224). Unfortunately, she romanticized her marriage to a point where she began to feel unsatisfied, and she settled for something more convenient and available. It is true her life resembled a telenovela, but one where “the episodes got sadder and sadder. And there were no commercials in between for comic relief. And no happy ending in sight” (Cisneros, 226). Marriage is a sacred union between two people, but sometimes it is done more out of obligation than true love.
Cleófilas tries hard to follow traditional values, which are intertwined with the patriarchy.

She strives to be a good housewife and mother, but why does she have to settle and put her dreams of finding a true love on hold? Cleófilas does not want to let her life pass her by, and so she takes action. A river was nicknamed La Gritona, which means “loud-mouthed” or “barker”, because a woman hollers in anger or pain. Her personality was quite the opposite of the creek, “so pretty and full of happily ever after” (Cisneros, 222). When Cleófilas and her husband enter the ice house, she “sits mute” (Cisneros, 223) and remains respectful, two accurate words to describe the protagonist. The world of fictional glamour is farther away because traditional expectations presume woman will exhibit such proper behavior. It was not until the end of the excerpt where Cleófilas took her life into her own hands and directed her own telenovela. She took her baby and decided to go back home to safety and happiness with the help of a woman named Felice. When crossing La Gritona, Felice “let out a yell as loud as the mariachi” (Cisneros, 227), something that can be heard from a distance. The driver is loud and vivacious and freely herself. Cleófilas received her happy ending, which involved her and her laughter that “gurgled out of her own throat, a long ribbon of laughter, like water” (Cisneros, 228). Water moves freely, and vast amounts could dominate. Cleófilas left her marriage and refused to settle for her

dreams.
Traditional values could interfere with a person’s ability to make his or her life a dream come true, which essentially shapes one’s expectation of the world. Will they conform and fulfill all that is expected of them, or will they do exactly what makes them happy? Cleófilas is a woman who knew what she wanted since she was young, but was too afraid to run after it. At first, she married a man who did not share her interests, abused her, falling short of her expectations, but she decided her baby’s life, as well as her own, was too important to let suffer. A person should go after his or her desires and avoid feeling resentment. Dreams of any extent are worth trying to chase.