Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories

Infobox Book
name = Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories

image_caption = "Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories" first edition cover.
author = Sandra Cisneros
illustrator =
cover_artist = Susan Shapiro & Nivia Gonzales
country = USA
language = English
series =
subject =
genre =
publisher = Random House, Inc.
pub_date = April 3, 1991
media_type = Print (Hardcover)
pages =
isbn = o-679-73856-8
oclc =

"Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories" is a book of short stories by renowned Chicago-based Chicana writer Sandra Cisneros. The collection reflects Cisneros's multicultural background of being raised in a country which is not quite her own, but is the only one she truly knows. As a reviewer noted, "taken together, these vignettes give a vivid, colorful picture of life on the Texas/Mexico border". [Harvnb|Tager|1991|p= 149] "Newsweek" commended such genuine writing, saying "her feminist, Mexican-American voice is not only playful and vigorous, it's original—we haven't heard anything like it before". [Harvnb|Prescott|1991|p=60]

Background

The legend of "La Llorona" (Spanish for "weeping woman") is a ghost story found in Mexico and Texas. Woman Hollering Creek, a body of water just off Interstate 10 in Texas, is part of that same myth. As one columnist notes, the premise goes "a beautiful young woman named Maria falls in love and marries a handsome, rich boy, and their union is blessed with two sons and a daughter". [Harvnb|Van Ostrand|2008] Soon after, the boy loses his affection for his wife. Maria, knowing that her husband doesn't love her, drowns their three children in the river and then herself. Upon reaching heaven, Maria is told that she can not enter until she has found her children. She is sent back to Earth where she wails sorrowfully for her babies. According to legend, any child that happens upon her ghost is pulled into the river and drowned. Other versions of this story are recognized in throughout the world among the Aztecs, the Greek, the Spaniards, and found its way into Cisneros's work.

Amongst the collection of short stories is a chapter with the collection's title of "Woman Hollering Creek". Her tale presents a woman who is physically abused by her husband and feels drawn towards the near-by creek, but finds help in two strangers before she is led to do anything drastic. As Patricia Hart, in "The Nation", cleverly remarks, "anger repressed bursts the seams of life for Cisneros’ female characters, who struggle valiantly to make something beautiful from the ugly fabric fate has given them to work with". [Harvnb|Hart|1991|p= 598]

Cisneros was born into a family of seven children, her being the only female; which always left her to be singled out on account of her gender.Harvnb|Madsen|2000|p= 106] Although there were enough siblings to go around, Cisneros always felt lonely as a child, thus prompting her to begin creating stories to vary the "dull routine of her life". And as such, Madsen notes, "she creates stories, not explanations or analyses or arguments"; which in turn describe her feminist views with "more provisional, personal, emotional, and intuitive forms of narrative". [Harvnb|Madsen|2000|p= 109]

Characters

Cisneros bases most of her cast on stereotypes. As critic Ilan Stavans observes, “The image of Hispanic men, for instance, is grim and depressing: while the guys are always abusive, alcoholic, and egotistical, the girls are naive, doll-like, occasionally in control yet obsessed with how nature transforms itself, how relationships deteriorate, and how people escape their responsibilities to meet a different, although not a better fate.” [Harvnb|Stavans|1991|p= 524]

There are three major feminine archetypes highlighted by Cisneros that represent Mexican womanhood. They are: "the passive virgin, the sinful seductress, and the traitorous mother".Harvnb|Fitts|2002|p= 11] These figures are portrayed in a few of Cisneros's stories as "La Malinche in 'Never Marry a Mexican,' the Virgin of Guadalupe in 'Little Miracles, Kept Promises,' and La Llorona in 'Woman Hollering Creek'". They can also be assumed by the book's three major sections: "My Lucy Friend Who Smells Like Corn", "One Holy Night", and "There Was a Man, There Was a Woman". [Harvnb|Madsen|2000|p= 110]

In 'Never Marry a Mexican', the protagonist epitomizes the figure of La Malinche as she is " [D] oomed to exist within a racial and class-cultural wasteland, unanchored by a sense of ever belonging either to her ethnic or her natal homeland". [Harvnb|Madsen|2003|p= 244] The revenge acheived in this vignette by the protagonist, Clemencia, is not only sought for La Malinche, but for "all the women who are led to believe that marriage is the only mechanism by which their lives may be validated and if they are not married then they themselves are somehow invalid". [Harvnb|Madsen|2000|p= 112]

Themes

One of the major themes in the book is women's social role. Critic Mary Reichart observes that in Cisneros's previous work as well as "in "Woman Hollering Creek" (1991), the female characters break out of the molds assigned to them by the culture in search of new roles and new kinds of relationships. Cisneros portrays woman who challenge stereotypes and break taboos, sometimes simply for the sake of shocking the establishment, but most often because the confining stereotypes prevent them from achieving their own identity." [Harvnb|Reichardt|2001|p= 59] McCracken observes the visible representation of the book and remarks that "the cover art, a painting by the Chicana artist Nivia González, ... is a polysemous text that simultaneously can work to confirm stereotypes of the Mexican woman as a folkloric figure for the other readers who lack in-depth contact with Mexican Americans". [Harvnb|McCracken|1999|p= 17]

Another theme of the book is that of conflicting love and failed relationships between man and woman and also between mother and daughter. For example, critic Elizabeth Brown-Guillory notes of the story "Never Marry a Mexican" that it is about a "failed relationship between mother and daughter that has generational implications. [...] Cisneros portrays the mother as a destructive emotional force, alienating and condemning her daughter to repeating her own mother’s destructive powers." This failed relationship between daughter and mother also affects the ways in which women relate to men and “the story blames the mother for the failed relationships they have had with men.” [Harvnb|Brown-Guillory|1996|p= 164]

Deborah L. Madsen asserts that Cisneros' "mixed ethnic background ... is reflected in the cultural hybridity that is one of [her] recurring themes".Harvnb|Madsen|2000|p= 105]

tyle

This is a fictional book composed of short stories. "Cisneros dislikes length. Most of the entries are short: between one and fifteen pages." [Harvnb|Stavans|1991|p= ???] page number Most of the book is written in the third person, and " [h] er style is candid engaging, rich in language". [Harvnb|Stavans|1991|p= ???] page number Deborah L. Madsen, in her book "Understanding Contemporary Chicana Literature", praises Cisneros' work, stating that " [t] he narrative techniques of her fiction demonstrate daring technical innovations, especially in her bold experimentation with literary voice and her development of a hybrid form that weaves poetry into prose to create a dense and evocative linguistic texture of symbolism and imagery that is both technically and aesthetically accomplished". In a later book, Madsen notes that Cisneros uses "the strategies described in post-colonial theory as "counter-discourse" to engage and deconstruct the oppressive cultural narratives that are a legacy of Mexican America's colonial past". [Harvnb|Madsen|2003|p= 5]

Film adaptation

There is no film adaptation to this book, but there is a short film about "La Llorona" which was released in 1998. [citation|title=La Llorona|publisher=Internet Movie Database|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0259401|accessdate=2008-09-21]

Reception

The book "Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories" was well received because not only Latin women could relate to the stories but all women of different cultures could relate. It is mentioned that "Cisneros surveys woman's condition-a condition that is both precisely Latina and general to women everywhere. Her characters include preadolescent girls, disappointed brides, religious women, consoling partners and deeply cynical women who enjoy devouring men. They are without exception strong girls, strong women." [Harvnb|Prescott|1991|p= ??] page number Her work is said to be more than words is seen more as "a mosaic of voices of Mexican-Americans who joke, love, hate and comment on fame and sexuality [...] They are verbal photographs, memorabilia, reminiscences of growing up in a Hispanic milieu."Harvnb|Stavans|1991|p= 524]

One criticism is that Cisneros stereotypes men in her stories . Stavans argues that "the image of Hispanic men [...] is grim and depressing [...] the guys are always abusive, alcoholic and egotistical".

Notes

References

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Woman Hollering Creek — is a creek located in Central Texas. At one point, it crosses Interstate 10, between Seguin, Texas and San Antonio, Texas.The creek s name is probably a loose translation of the Spanish La Llorona , or The weeping woman . According to legend, a… … Wikipedia
Sandra Cisneros — Born December 20, 1954 (1954 12 20) (age 56) Chicago, Illinois Occupation Novelist, poet, short story writer Nationality USA Ethnicity Mexican American … Wikipedia
American literature — Introduction the body of written works produced in the English language in the United States. Like other national literatures, American literature was shaped by the history of the country that produced it. For almost a century and a… … Universalium
Cisneros, Sandra — ▪ American author born December 20, 1954, Chicago, Illinois, U.S. American short story writer and poet best known for her groundbreaking evocation of Mexican American life in Chicago. After graduating from Chicago s Loyola University… … Universalium
Sandra Cisneros — Nom de naissance Sandra Cisneros Activités romancière, poétesse Naissance 20 décembre 1954 Chicago Langue d écriture anglais Genres Poésie … Wikipédia en Français
Sandra Cisneros — Saltar a navegación, búsqueda Sandra Laura Cisneros (n. Chicago, 20 de diciembre de 1954) es una autora de los Estados Unidos y es mejor conocida por su novela La Casa en Mango Street. También es la autora de la novela Caramelo, publicada en el… … Wikipedia Español
Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards — The Anisfield Wolf Book Awards are an American literary award dedicated to honoring written works that make important contributions to our understanding of racism and our appreciation of the rich diversity of human culture. Established in 1935 by … Wikipedia

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