Cisneros: Woman Hollering Creek II

    Sandra's Cisneros' writing style is certainly a unique one. She utilizes a wide variety of techniques to establish her voice, and the individual voice of the characters in each story. I like how the beginning of the book is united with the child-like viewpoint, manifesting in the slant of naivety and honesty. The first sections of stories, including; 'My Lucy Friend Who Smells Like Corn', 'Mericans', and 'Tepeyac' communicate the directness of children, even in their titles.  I really find it wonderful how Cisernos changes her diction and syntax based on the voice she is speaking from, it adds true authenticity to her writing. 

  Her book is structured like a life cycle, with the titles of the section again congruent with the stages of a woman's life. For example, the diction and structure of the opening section, 'My Lucy Friend Who Smells Like Corn' is obviously grammatically incorrect and bears the stamp of a child.

   The mid section, 'One Holy Night', is short in both title and size, but the words each hold gravity and near melodramatic importance. This is very reflective of the emotions associated with adolescence, and the formative events (such as loss of virginity) in the story. Lastly, the section 'There Was a Man, There Was a Woman', is descriptive of the life of a grown woman. Male-Female romantic (or not so much) relationships are the central focus of this section, and the family that form out of them. The importance has shifted from that of the platonic ('My Lucy Friend') to heterosexual partnerships. This is also the longest section of the tale, like adulthood in one's life. 

Woman Hollering Creek

     Sandra Cisnero's collection Woman Hollering Creek: and other stories is, first of all, quite wonderful. I can understand why it is a commonly studied text in universities, and why it was chosen for our class. Other than How the García Girl Lost Their Accents (my wiki article), this is my favorite text thus far. Of course, the English enhances my experience somewhat.

While the topic of feminism and the role of the Chicana has been discussed in relation to almost everything we've studied thus far, Woman Hollering Creek most directly addresses women.  I like how the book is a collection of stories; this literary method allows the reader to identify with more than one or two characters. Also, the commonality of experience between the women makes the issues raised of larger importance. I think that this book is fairly politically charged, and will lead to excellent discussion in class. 

   Cisnero's voice, while varying amongst the individual stories, usually maintains a clear, simplistic tone. I don't mean this as a criticism, in fact I enjoy how openly she explores issues like domestic abuse, class stratification and accidental pregnancy. Too often, in literature and public discourse, these topics are euphemized to nothingness  but Cisneros brings them to the forefront through her many characters and their stories. 

Thus far...

   Firstly, I know I'm publishing this a bit late, but I was ever so busy giving thanks and eating turkey this weekend and simply couldn't tear myself away to blog. Also, I figured everyone else was fairly similarly engaged, and probably wouldn't be lining up to comment. 

   Excuses aside, we have done some thought provoking reading, discussing and viewing which deserves to be commented upon. My personal favorite thus far is the film The Salt of the Earth, which I found enjoyable as a story and interesting snippet of 1950's American cinema. I haven't exposed myself to very much film of that era, and I must say it was better than I expected. Jon mentioned in class that the producers came under fire from the Communist witch-hunting that occurred during the McCarthy Era (Second Red Scare). At first, I didn't notice the distinctly (for the time) Communist flavour of the film, but upon reflection it seems that it would have been fairly radical. 

   Like most of what we've studied so far, The Salt of the Earth is armed with a strong social message championing equality. To me, this begs the question of the ubiquity of the egalitarian theme in all Chicano texts and media, or simply that which we've studied. I think it is an issue which, especially historically, pertains to the lives of Chicano people in North America. The three texts we've studied treat the message fairly differently, but still manage to communicate it effectively. 

Rivera II

   I just read the last post on the class blog, and had to laugh out loud. I too am on my way out to the VIFF, although not to see the film on border relations. Perhaps it would have been fitting though...

  Finishing the Rivera book was a different experience than with most novels, there is little conclusive about the ending. Overall, I think that this is fitting with the nature of the text, having little chronological narrative quality. It did, however, set a united tone with connecting the individual stories around common themes. 

  Since I finished the book, I went on to read 'How the García Girls Lost Their Accents' by Julia Alvarez. Interestingly, both of these novels employ an unorthodox method of story telling. In Rivera's text, the viewpoint remains from that of a young boy but the chronology is disordered. In contrast, Alvarez writes from a number of perspectives but the order remains consistently reverse. 

   Personally, I preferred Alvarez's style over Rivera's because I found her narrative structure flowed better and communicated her points well.  While the way Rivera writes is interesting and made me think more thematically than in terms of plot points, I didn't find it as engaging. Alvarez manipulated her diction and syntax based upon the perspective she was writing from, which I enjoyed as a writing style.