Sobre la comunidad chicana

Me gustaría compartir este ensayo que escribí sobre el cuento "Woman Hollering Creek" de Sandra Cisneros. La literatura siempre nos acerca a situaciones que tal vez no vivimos o conocemos pero de las cuales hemos escuchado alguna vez.

Woman Hollering Creek: The In-between Place.

Sandra Cisneros was born on December 20th, 1954, in Chicago, but she spent her childhood in Texas and Mexico. She is the only daughter of seven children of a Mexican father and a Mexican-American mother. She studied at Chicago’s Loyola University and at the University of Iowa. She has written a chapbook of poetry, Bad Boys (1980); two full-length poetry books, My Wicked Wicked Ways (1987) and Loose Woman (1994); a collection of stories, Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories (1991); a children’s book, Hairs/Pelitos (1994); and two novels, The House on Mango Street (1984) and Caramelo (2002). There is also Vintage Cisneros (2003), a compilation of selections from her works.
It is important to take into account that Cisneros herself is a Mexican-American and that when she was a child she lived on a poor chicano neighborhood. This experience when confronted in her adult life with the academic world of the United States universities made her think about how much the people knew about the chicano life and therefore she started to think about writing stories on the way “Mexican-Americans” live between two different places and cultures:

As a graduate student in the University of Iowa Writers Workshop, Cisneros felt alienated by discussion of Gaston Bachelard's Poetics of Space. She says, "What was this guy talking about when he mentioned the familiar and comforting 'house of memory'? It was obvious he never had to clean one or pay the landlord rent for one like ours" (xiii-xiv). Cisneros' alienation gave rise to anger, which in turn prompted the writing of House on Mango Street; the lyrical novel describing the life of a young Mexican-American girl growing up in a working-class Chicago neighborhood, much as Cisneros herself did. In an attempt to establish the difference of this kind of home from the one her fellow students remembered, Cisneros sought what she calls an "anti-academic voice--a child's voice, a girl's voice, a poor girl's voice, a spoken voice, the voice of an American-Mexican".1

This is important because although Cisneros was part of the United States and she was able to study and get to the University, even there she had to confront what the majority of the people that belonged to chicano community confronted: the marginalization from the United States society. That is why the “anti-academic voice” of Cisneros’ stories is essential for the portrayal of an identity which was not studied at the universities, that was ignored. In her short story “Woman Hollering Creek” this “anti-academic voice”, a female one, is also present in the voice of the narrator. This voice, which at the beginning seems to be detached from Cleófilas’ story, gradually starts to take part of it, up to the point where the narrator’s voice seems to become Cleófilas’.
As the Norton Anthology says, Cisneros is interested in Chicano feminism “especially as this movement combines cultural issues with women’s concerns”. In “Woman Hollering Creek” she talks about the role of women in Chicano society, and in the case of Cleófilas, how she suddenly has to face loneliness, violence and disappointment while she is very far from the country where she grew up. Nevertheless, this does not mean that her life in Mexico was perfect. From the beginning of the story, the narrator gives a brief account of how life was at the town where Cleófilas lived before she moved to the U.S:

In the town where she grew up, there isn’t very much to do except accompany the aunts and godmothers to the house of one or the other to play cards. Or walk to the cinema to see this week’s film again […] Or to the center of town to order a milk shake that will appear in a day and a half as a pimple on her backside. Or to the girlfriend’s house to watch the latest telenovela episode and try to copy the way the women comb their hair, wear their makeup.

In this part, Cisneros turns to images of the Mexican popular culture and uses the “telenovela”—with all its stereotypes of what a relationship between man and woman should be, the submissive woman who endures it all, and the happy ending— in order to create a third place, this time an inexistent one, where Cleófilas longs to live when she is in Mexico and also when she moves to the United States, although here, she will have to confront the fantasy with the real world.
When the narrator starts talking about Seguín, Tejas—it is important to notice how Cisneros wants to preserve the Mexican pronunciation of some words, like Tejas instead of Texas, or Seguín instead of Seguin— the telenovela’s fantasy is mixed with the “American dream”: “Seguín, Tejas. A nice sterling ring to it. The tinkle of money. She would get to wear outfits like women on the tele, like Lucía Méndez. And have a lovely house, and wouldn’t Chela be jealous.” The narrator’s tone is optimistic and familiar, and it is precisely in this part where we discover that this voice belongs to a woman, probably one of her aunts: “Well, what do you think! Yes, I’m going to the wedding. Of course! The dress I want to wear just needs to be altered a teensy bit to bring it up to date”. This is the “anti-academic voice” Cisneros talks about, a voice that empathizes with Cleófilas, that feels sorry for her and that, at the same time, represents some of the ideas that belong to Mexican culture: “Poor thing. And without even a mama to advise her on things like her wedding night. Well, may God help her.”
Cleófilas’ life in her town passed between “telenovelas” and her aunts and girlfriends who appear as the female counterpart to her father and her “six good-for-nothing brothers”. She seems to be protected by those female figures; she does not have to cope with men all the time. The first part of the story emphasizes the concept of “family”, which is another pillar of the Mexican society. Nevertheless, from the very beginning Cisneros presents the protagonist’s experience with loneliness in the U.S. which contrasts with her not so distant life in Mexico, full of people that surrounded her:
This is what Cleófilas thought evenings when Juan Pedro did not come home, and she lay on her side of the bed listening to the hollow roar of the interstate, a distant dog barking, the pecan trees rustling like ladies in stiff petticoats—shh-shh-shh, shh-shh-shh— soothing her to sleep.
Loneliness is one of the main themes in Cisneros’ story, not only Cleófilas’ loneliness but also Soledad’s and Dolores’, their neighbors in Seguín. The names of these two women represent their lives. Soledad’s husband “had either died, or run away with an ice-house floozie”; Dolores’ sons “had died in the last war” and her husband “died shortly after from grief.” Their lives seem to have no meaning without a male figure; they are only accompanied by flowers and again by “telenovelas”. To these lonely female figures, Cisneros adds “La Gritona”, the “Woman Hollering Creek”, which amazes Cleófilas and becomes a kind of shelter for her. “Pain or rage”, she is always thinking if the woman “hollered from anger or pain” maybe these feelings are also experimented by her and by many chicanas.
In “Woman Hollering Creek”, Juan Pedro Martínez Sánchez is described as the typical Mexican macho that beats his wife and then cries on repentance. A man that “demands each course of the dinner be served on a separate plate like at his mother’s.” This is the first time Cleófilas’ real life and the “telenovelas” she is used to watch are confronted. She is not able to “run away as she imagined she might when she saw such things in telenovelas”. The narrator compares the way Juan Pedro treats his wife with the relationship of Cleófilas’ parents: “In her own home [they] had never raised a hand to each other or to their children. Although she admitted she may have been brought up a little leniently as an only daughter—la consentida”. The protagonist is described as a little girl that suddenly had to mature and face a different situation in a completely different place, away from home, milkshakes and movies.
Poverty is also an important aspect of Chicano life; in fact, this is what forces Mexicans to cross the border in the first place. The alienating job of Cleófilas’ husband seems to be what sparks off the violence he inflicts on his wife:

[…] if she had any brains in her head she’d realize he’s been up before the rooster earning his living to pay for the food in her belly and the roof over her head and would have to wake up again early the next day so why can’t you just leave me in peace, woman.

In this fragment the voice of the narrator is transformed into a male one, Juan Pedro’s. Later on, the female voice would become Cleófilas’ although only for brief moments, especially when she is in despair. This desperation comes from her realization that neither in Mexico nor in the U.S. she could live peacefully. She is between “the town of gossips” and “the town of despair”. Nevertheless, “the town of gossips” is more familiar to her, with its “zócalo” and the church. In Seguín, she feels “there is no place to go. Unless one counts the neighbor ladies. Soledad on one side, Dolores on the other. Or the creek.” Soledad and Dolores? Loneliness and pain do not seem to be very good options for Cleófilas, but the creek could be an escape from her problems: “a good size alive thing, a thing with a voice all its own”. The voice she lacks, it is a female voice, maybe La Llorona, she thinks.
The last part of the story occurs when Cleófilas starts thinking the “telenovela” of her life is getting “sadder and sadder. And there were no commercials in between for comic relief. And no happy ending in sight.” She is pregnant again and her husband is afraid that if she goes to the doctor she will tell him about the beatings he gives to her:

No, she won’t mention it. She promises. If the doctor asks she can say she fell down the front steps or slipped when she was out in the backyard, slipped out back, she could tell him that. She has to go back next Tuesday, Juan Pedro, please, for the new baby. For their child.

This is when the voice of the narrator suddenly becomes Cleófilas’ frightened voice, submissive, without quotations marks or dashes that indicate reported speech: “I’ll have Juan Pedrito dressed and ready […] As soon as you come from work. We won’t make you ashamed.” It is also a desperate voice that is trying to protect her baby.
Everything in this story seems to be sad and without any hope. Nevertheless, almost at the very end, the story takes a different turn: when Cleófilas goes to the hospital, the woman who sees her—a doctor maybe—discovers her “black-and-blue marks all over her”. Graciela does not only pity Cleófilas but she helps her, knowing that she is not the first case of mistreatment that comes to the hospital. She talks about her as just another case: “one of those brides from across the border. And her family’s all in Mexico.” Graciela asks for the help of Felice and ironically comments about Cleófilas’ situation: “A regular soap opera sometimes. Qué vida, comadre.” The name of Graciela’s friend, Felice, reminded me of the word “Feliz”. She is described as an independent woman, who drives her own pick-up and is not married, who makes ironical comments on virginity. She represents the opposite of Cleófilas, and that is why when Felice yells at the arroyo, Cleófilas does not understand it, she can only think about “pain or rage”. But Felice’s yell represents freedom, happiness.
The image of Felice yelling like a “mariachi” made me laugh, this scene contrasts with the whole story and I think it is very well achieved; the happiness of this woman is contagious. The creek is in fact that perfect place that stands in-between Mexico and the United States. Probably Cisneros decided to end her story like this as a way to show her desire for women’s independence and also to show that there are other possibilities for women, especially for chicanas.

1 Nelson, Cary. An Online Journal and Multimedia Companion to Anthology of Modern American Poetry

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Nelson, Cary. An Online Journal and Multimedia Companion to Anthology of Modern American Poetry, Oxford University Press, 2000.
http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/a_f/cisneros/career.htm

Sandra Cisneros’ web site. http://www.sandracisneros.com/