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.

The Barbie-Q Narrator Character Analysis

The narrator of “Barbie-Q,” a young girl who enjoys playing with Barbie dolls with her friend. The narrator and the Barbie-Q narrator’s friend each own one Barbie and wish they could afford to buy more so that they could complete their set. As it stands, they create scenarios in which one Barbie steals Ken, the other Barbie’s boyfriend, but the girls just imagine the Ken doll because they don’t own one. “We don’t have money for a stupid-looking boy doll when we’d both rather ask for a new Barbie outfit next Christmas,” the narrator says. It’s worth noting that the narrator’s gender is never explicitly revealed throughout “Barbie-Q.” The choice to use female gender pronouns in this guide is merely an attempt to avoid confusion, but readers should consider the fact that Cisneros has neglected to assign a gender to some of her characters.

The Barbie-Q Narrator Quotes in Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories

The Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories quotes below are all either spoken by The Barbie-Q Narrator or refer to The Barbie-Q Narrator. 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
).
Barbie-Q Quotes

Yours is the one with mean eyes and a ponytail. Striped swimsuit, stilettos, sunglasses, and gold hoop earrings. Mine is the one with bubble hair. Red swimsuit, stilettos, pearl earrings, and a wire stand. But that’s all we can afford, besides one extra outfit apiece. Yours, “Red Flair,” sophisticated A-line coatdress with a Jackie Kennedy pillbox hat, white gloves, handbag, and heels included. Mine, “Solo in the Spotlight,” evening elegance in black glitter strapless gown with a puffy skirt at the bottom like a mermaid tail, formal-length gloves, pink chiffon scarf, and mike included. From so much dressing and undressing, the black glitter wears off where her titties stick out. This and a dress invented from an old sock when we cut holes here and here and here, the cuff rolled over for the glamorous, fancy-free, off-the-shoulder look.

Every time the same story. Your Barbie is roommates with my Barbie, and my Barbie’s boyfriend comes over and your Barbie steals him, Okay? Kiss kiss kiss. Then the two Barbies fight. You dumbbell! He’s mine. Oh no he’s not, you stinky! Only Ken’s invisible, right? Because we don’t have money for a stupid-looking boy doll when we’d both rather ask for a new Barbie outfit next Christmas.

Related Characters: The Barbie-Q Narrator (speaker), The Barbie-Q Narrator’s Friend
Page Number: 14
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories LitChart as a printable PDF.
Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories PDF

The Barbie-Q Narrator Quotes in Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories

The Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories quotes below are all either spoken by The Barbie-Q Narrator or refer to The Barbie-Q Narrator. 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
).
Barbie-Q Quotes

Yours is the one with mean eyes and a ponytail. Striped swimsuit, stilettos, sunglasses, and gold hoop earrings. Mine is the one with bubble hair. Red swimsuit, stilettos, pearl earrings, and a wire stand. But that’s all we can afford, besides one extra outfit apiece. Yours, “Red Flair,” sophisticated A-line coatdress with a Jackie Kennedy pillbox hat, white gloves, handbag, and heels included. Mine, “Solo in the Spotlight,” evening elegance in black glitter strapless gown with a puffy skirt at the bottom like a mermaid tail, formal-length gloves, pink chiffon scarf, and mike included. From so much dressing and undressing, the black glitter wears off where her titties stick out. This and a dress invented from an old sock when we cut holes here and here and here, the cuff rolled over for the glamorous, fancy-free, off-the-shoulder look.

Every time the same story. Your Barbie is roommates with my Barbie, and my Barbie’s boyfriend comes over and your Barbie steals him, Okay? Kiss kiss kiss. Then the two Barbies fight. You dumbbell! He’s mine. Oh no he’s not, you stinky! Only Ken’s invisible, right? Because we don’t have money for a stupid-looking boy doll when we’d both rather ask for a new Barbie outfit next Christmas.

Related Characters: The Barbie-Q Narrator (speaker), The Barbie-Q Narrator’s Friend
Page Number: 14
Explanation and Analysis: