Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories

Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories

by

Sandra Cisneros

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories makes teaching easy.

Cleófilas Enriqueta DeLeón Hernández Character Analysis

The protagonist of “Woman Hollering Creek,” a woman who marries Juan Pedro and moves with him from Mexico to the United States despite her father’s misgivings. Cleófilas yearns for passion, but when she starts her new life in America, she realizes she’s married an abusive, slovenly man prone to drinking and abuse. Still, she and Juan Pedro have a child, Juan Pedrito, and she tries to endure her sorrow. Feeling alone in Texas, she misses the telenovelas she used to watch in Mexico, and even tries to peer through the windows into her neighbor’s house to watch the episodes. When she gets pregnant a second time, Cléofilas makes arrangements to secretly leave Juan Pedro, planning to return to Mexico. When Felice, the nurse who helps her escape, collects her and Juan Pedrito in a pickup truck, Cléofilas is astounded by the woman’s autonomy and free spirit, delighting in the power of this independent woman helping her regain her agency and life.

Cleófilas Enriqueta DeLeón Hernández Quotes in Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories

The Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories quotes below are all either spoken by Cleófilas Enriqueta DeLeón Hernández or refer to Cleófilas Enriqueta DeLeón Hernández. 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
).
Woman Hollering Creek Quotes

They want to tell each other what they want to tell themselves. But what is bumping like a helium balloon at the ceiling of the brain never finds its way out. It bubbles and rises, it gurgles in the throat, it rolls across the surface of the tongue, and erupts from the lips—a belch.

If they are lucky, there are tears at the end of the long night. At any given moment, the fists try to speak. They are dogs chasing their own tails before lying down to sleep, trying to find a way, a route, an out, and—finally—get some peace.

Related Characters: Cleófilas Enriqueta DeLeón Hernández, Juan Pedro Martínez Sánchez
Page Number: 48
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories LitChart as a printable PDF.
Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories PDF

Cleófilas Enriqueta DeLeón Hernández Quotes in Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories

The Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories quotes below are all either spoken by Cleófilas Enriqueta DeLeón Hernández or refer to Cleófilas Enriqueta DeLeón Hernández. 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
).
Woman Hollering Creek Quotes

They want to tell each other what they want to tell themselves. But what is bumping like a helium balloon at the ceiling of the brain never finds its way out. It bubbles and rises, it gurgles in the throat, it rolls across the surface of the tongue, and erupts from the lips—a belch.

If they are lucky, there are tears at the end of the long night. At any given moment, the fists try to speak. They are dogs chasing their own tails before lying down to sleep, trying to find a way, a route, an out, and—finally—get some peace.

Related Characters: Cleófilas Enriqueta DeLeón Hernández, Juan Pedro Martínez Sánchez
Page Number: 48
Explanation and Analysis: