Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories

Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories

by

Sandra Cisneros

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Clemencia’s Mother Character Analysis

A Mexican-American woman in “Never Marry a Mexican” who warns Clemencia against ever marrying a Mexican man. She herself married a Mexican man at a young age, and when he died, she married a white man who already had kids. Clemencia and her sister Ximena hold this against their mother, who tries to justify her actions by saying that she married so young that she never got to experience young love.

Clemencia’s Mother Quotes in Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories

The Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories quotes below are all either spoken by Clemencia’s Mother or refer to Clemencia’s Mother. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Love, The Joy of Life, & Interconnection Theme Icon
).
Never Marry a Mexican Quotes

I guess she did it to spare me and Ximena the pain she went through. Having married a Mexican man at seventeen. Having had to put up with all the grief a Mexican family can put on a girl because she was from el otro lado, the other side, and my father had married down by marrying her. If he had married a white woman from el otro lado, that would’ve been different. That would’ve been marrying up, even if the white girl was poor. But what could be more ridiculous than a Mexican girl who couldn’t even speak Spanish, who didn’t know enough to set a separate plate for each course at dinner, nor how to fold cloth napkins, nor how to set the silverware.

Related Characters: Clemencia (speaker), Clemencia’s Mother, Clemencia’s Father
Page Number: 69
Explanation and Analysis:
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Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories PDF

Clemencia’s Mother Character Timeline in Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories

The timeline below shows where the character Clemencia’s Mother appears in Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Never Marry a Mexican
Love, The Joy of Life, & Interconnection Theme Icon
Cultural & National Identity Theme Icon
Clemencia explains that her mother has always told her to never marry a Mexican. Having taken this to heart, she... (full context)
Love, The Joy of Life, & Interconnection Theme Icon
Female Objectification & Power Theme Icon
Cultural & National Identity Theme Icon
...the two girls grew up in an even worse neighborhood. Once their father died, their mother married a white man despite their protests, justifying her decision by pointing out that she... (full context)
Love, The Joy of Life, & Interconnection Theme Icon
Loss, Longing, & Grief Theme Icon
Clemencia reveals to Drew’s son that she’s only met his mother once, when she accidentally ran into her at an art gallery. Drew saw Clemencia and... (full context)