Analysis of "Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories"

Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories is an accumulation of short stories put together into one book. This group of short stories were all written by Sandra Cisneros. The author is from San Antonio, Texas and is a Mexican-American writer. The book includes Sandra Cisneros’ personal stories about her life growing up on the United States and Mexico border. All of these stories are her experiences which are in the perspective of being a Mexican-American woman.

Sandra Cisneros’s collection is separated into three different parts. All of the sections are focused on women and how they socially interact with the people in their lives. Most of the social interactions involve men who see women as weaker and not as good as men. The author identifies these issues introduces the characters slowly while uncovering their life stories.

The first section of the book is called “My Lucy Friend Who Smells Like Corn.” This part of the collection tells a short story about a girl and her closest friend Lucy. This segment tells their life stories and experiences growing up just a little bit north of the US and Mexico border. Both of these girls are Mexican-American. Lucy Anguiano grew up in a poor home with a hardworking mom. Lucy has many siblings as well. The author also shows that Lucy’s father is very non-existent in her life. Since there is not much supervision, the narrator and Lucy are very adventurous.

The second section is called “One Holy Night.” This story is based on the life of Ixchel, a Mexican-American teenage girl that move to the United States. She has some struggles with the differences of Mexico and the United States and the transition. Ixchel story starts when she is wanting to find a romantic partner because that’s what high schoolers do. While she was in search of the person for her, she comes across a much older man. The story continues with her experiences with him and it gets very intense.

The third and last section is called, “There Was a Man, There Was a Woman.” This segment contains three different short stories. The first story in this segment is called “Woman Hollering Creek.” This narrative tells the story of the main character, Cleofilas who is a Mexican woman. Her story is about her and her husband’s journey crossing the border to Seguin, Texas. “Woman Hollering Creek” tells Cleofilas’s challenges once she reaches Seguin and her plan to return home. “Eyes of Zapata” is the second story in this segment and it’s about a woman named Ines. This story is about her life with Emiliano Zapata. Her husband helped revolutionize Mexico so he was very non-existent with his wife. The last story in this segment is called “Never Marry a Mexican” and it’s about Clemencia, the main character, and her life with her white partner. She gets feelings of rejection from him as she states in the short story.

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