Woman Hollering Creek: Domestic Violence Undone

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Juan Lopez Prof. Odegaard English 101 4/7/15 Rough Draft: Domestic Violence Domestic violence does not have a set gender that it only targets, it can afflict whoever. In “Woman Hollering Creek,” Cisneros talks about a couple who ended up separating at the end of the story. Getting into specifics, the wife of the married couple abandoned her husband to seek freedom from his oppression. Her name, Cleofilas, could not take anymore abuse from Juan Pedro. Forced to stay at home to clean, cook, and watch over their child. It was a different lifestyle Cleofilas imagined; she thought she would have a similar lifestyle like the ones in the telenovelas (soap opera). A happy ever after with her prince charming. The author twists that initial thought Cleofilas had and made it utter hell. She was not the same person at the end of the story. She became independent after escaping her husband, starting anew. The author uses symbolism, conflict, and conflict to demonstrate how married women are helpless against their abusive husbands. Cisneros uses Cleofilas as a symbol on how married women are powerless against their abusive husbands. Her husband, Juan Pedro, is a symbol for dictatorship. In the beginning of their marriage he subjugates her in an abusive way. “. . . he slapped her once, then again, and then again. . . she didn’t run away as she imagined she might when she saw such things in the telenovelas” (Cisneros 222). Cleofilas does not rebuttal in that scenario, thus showing weakness in their relationship.She is left speechless and wondered how her relationship is nothing like the ones in her many watched soap operas. Cleofilas’s idea of passion is that you must suffer to obtain it. Which is a strong reason why she is still with her husband. Another symbol of abuse, is when the couple go to the ice house. Cleofilas has to sit "mute beside their conversation" (Cisneros

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