ipl-logo

Comparing Woman Hollering Creek And Sandra Cisneros Siren Song

909 Words4 Pages

Sandra Cisneros’ story titled “Woman Hollering Creek” and Margaret Atwood’s “Siren Song” share major social struggles such as power imbalances and the struggle in the search for perfection, yet they convey these issues in vastly different ways. Cisneros utilizes the allusion of telenovelas that she mentions and connects to numerous times throughout her story and also incorporates imagery and hyperboles to contrast her character Cleófilas’ fantastical desires of living in a telenovela against the truth of her harsh reality. Furthermore, Atwood mainly uses imagery and deliberate diction to bring her point across where she takes a mythical, magical being off their pedestal as other stories on sirens would never have done. “Siren Song” and “Woman …show more content…

“Woman Hollering Creek” showcases the differences between the real world and the elusive romanticized landscape of television as seen with telenovelas. As a part of the author’s allusion, Cleófilas dreams of finding “...passion in its purest crystalline essence” and she elaborates that it is “The kind the books and songs and telenovelas describe when one finds, finally, the great love of one's life, and does whatever one can, at whatever the cost” (Cisneros 591). This fantasy, although beautiful, is so distant that imagining it only makes it worse when her husband begins hitting her as soon as their marriage started. Her facade of finding the perfect man and perfect life was instantly shattered and she was stunned beyond anything she could have imagined. This directly connects with the detrimental impacts inevitably paired with the evolution of technology since it is so easy to be wrapped up in the unobtainable facade of perfection that inevitably leads to a multitude of self-image issues felt due to such outrageous societal …show more content…

Both of these stories represent the social issues pertaining to the power struggle seen for millennia and showcase this striking message through the means of extensive allusion or imagery. “Siren’s Song” and “Woman Hollering Creek” explore the depths of the endless endeavor of pleasing society’s skyrocketing beliefs pertaining to beauty and relationships. In “Siren’s Song”, Atwood strips down the perpetual illusion of a majestic, beautiful being through blunt dictions such as “get me out of this bird suit” and “squatting on this island” (Atwood 12, 14) in order to allow readers to see the reality behind a normally ethereal creature. This contrasts with the standards that are normally described and strived for and, instead, this newfound light allows readers to further accept their own faults and understand that even the most beautiful of beings may not be living as wonderfully as everyone would have previously thought. Society, as it is today, can benefit from this message as technology will only evolve but can only be as powerful as everyone allows it to be, so everyone must take

Show More
Related
1032 Words | 5 Pages

“A Woman Hollering Creek”. Cleofilas grows up watching telenovelas and reading romance novels. These make her wish to find the passion that can only be found in true love, according to the telenovelas and romance novels. But Cleofilas ends up in a marriage where she is physically and emotionally abused. But, although, she ends up in these situations, Cleofilas reflects on whether the love she saw and read about is all there is.

Read More
490 Words | 2 Pages

Cleófilas so desperately wants her marriage with Juan to be just like the relationships in the telenovelas. When they are newlyweds, their relationship is great and Cleófilas believes this will be the way it is forever. One night, Juan hits Cleófilas, this is the beginning of Cleófilas’s realization that her relationship with Juan is not perfect. The relationships between Cleófilas, her father, and her husband show the difference between family love, which is unconditional, and marital love, which has

Read More
455 Words | 2 Pages

Clemencia the narrator in the story “Woman Hollering Creek” is a stereotype of the Latina woman. She doesn’t respect marriage, and didn’t stay committed to one man, didn’t seem to care what she did. Sandra Cisneros discusses the stereotypes of Latina women, in the first story young girls that grew up in Mexico and an American culture, wanted to know how it felt to grow up in the United States. In the second story, they were adolescent girls experiencing being brought into existence. The third story were mature woman who explored challenges through family related.

Read More
409 Words | 2 Pages

Beauty and good looks tend to carry a certain advantage throughout modern society. This advantage allows these people to “control” or manipulate people, and subsequently things, to their own likings. This “luring” is exemplified as sirens in Homer’s epic, “The Odyssey.” This application of Homer’s work is demonstrated throughout Margaret Atwood’s poem, “Siren Song,” in which diction, hyperbole, and a deceivingly alluring tone are applied in order to express the ease of which people with these desirable traits are able to exploit the thinking of others into their own likings, despite the ill-fated circumstances that are bound to come.

Read More
741 Words | 3 Pages

Moreover, in “Song to the Siren,” the Siren’s, “singing eyes and fingers,” drew the human male lovingly to her isle (Buckley). Once again the Siren seduces the man by her looks and voice to proceed to her island. This femme fatale not only has a way of causing men to fall for her charm, yet she can also manipulate them into following her exact orders, not matter the cost. With a mesmerizing ability to manipulate and have an impacting influence on unadulterated men who follow the command of the creatures’ enticing nature, the Sirens effortlessly turn a passing stranger into a mindless vessel who is unfortunately reaching the verge of their impending doom. In “Sirens Song,” the power of the Siren’s manipulation is explained as statement of, “Oh what a Siren can do to a man with open ears,” which implies that the song sung by the Siren casts a spell of control over the listener (Miss May I).

Read More
574 Words | 3 Pages

The siren is meant to symbolize women in the 1900’s, who were mostly stuck in their homes with nothing to do but attempt to attract successful men to marry. The siren is the same, as the siren’s home is on the island, and the siren must attract men to survive. The siren’s dialogue with the sailor, who can be assumed to be female, is then representing the desire of women in the 1900’s to break free from the necessity of attracting men and how they needed each other’s help. Additionally, the siren’s song being a “cry for help” that works every time implies that men during the 1900’s desired to be the knights in shining armor for women in need and that the men may not prefer women to be able to save themselves. “Woman Hollering Creek,” follows a woman named Cleófilas who ends up in an abusive relationship and eventually finds freedom.

Read More
395 Words | 2 Pages

The allusion to the Sirens from Greek mythology in “Song to the Siren” and “Sirens Song” is included to show the detrimental effects of deceit and allurement on humans today, as well as the simplicity in manipulating them. The song “Sirens Song” is describing how a prostitute lures men in towards them by their beauty. It displays that “All he needed was to hear what was in front of him/ A song sang too many times” (Miss May I). The allusion to the Sirens exemplifies the level of deceit and manipulation that the harlot used on the man. Similarly to the Sirens, the harlot will cause harm and bring danger to the man she is tricking, showing how humans are just as easy to manipulate today as they were thousands of years ago.

Read More
1301 Words | 6 Pages

The reason Cleofilas does not leave her husband is because she is obsessed with telenovelas (Spanish soap operas). She watches all of the drama and passion in the show and she compares her marriage to a telenovela. “Woman Hollering Creek” uses specific symbols throughout such as: the orchid, the names of the characters, and the creek itself to show how Cleofilas has matured as an independent woman who can stand up for herself. First of all, it is important to understand

Read More
2052 Words | 9 Pages

Felice is an independent woman who lives a happy life. “Felice is free, she speaks herself into being, defying the social control that extends even to the geography” (Thomson). Felice does not have a husband, drives her own pickup, and provides immense help for Cleofilas. Cleofilas is fascinated by Felice and finds inspiration through her. The author claims “Everything about this woman, this Felice, amazed Cleofilas….she said she didn’t have a husband.

Read More
622 Words | 3 Pages

Adventure and desire are common qualities in humans and Sarah Orne Jewett’s excerpt from “A White Heron” is no different. The heroine, Sylvia, a “small and silly” girl, is determined to do whatever it takes to know what can be seen from the highest point near her home. Jewett uses literary elements such as diction, imagery, and narrative pace to dramatize this “gray-eyed child” on her remarkable adventure. Word choice and imagery are necessary elements to put the reader in the mind of Sylvia as she embarks on her treacherous climb to the top of the world. Jewett is picturesque when describing Sylvia’s journey to the tip of one unconquered pine tree.

Read More
1174 Words | 5 Pages

This, as a result, will certainly cause humanity as a whole to lose their own instinct of independency and self-control. What will be left of society will most unfortunately be unbalanced, inefficient, and appalling. As a result, society should come to the conclusion that technology isn’t disastrous itself alone, it is the connection and reliance that we have with it that makes it disastrous. Before we come face to face with terrible and unexplainable situations, it is wise for us as a society to reach a decision to overcome this dependency and be able to function properly once again to continue to live a prosperous and fulfilling

Read More
686 Words | 3 Pages

Stephen King is an American Author who writes many genres, such as horror, suspense, science fiction, and fantasy. He has written several highly rated and well known titles. Not only does King write books, but he also writes and produces movies such as It or The Shawshank Redemption. He won the The National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. Everybody knows who he is as an author, but who is he as a regular person?

Read More
768 Words | 4 Pages

In Woman Hollering Creek Cleofilas is a mother that is abused and goes through hardships and wants to be in love. Cleofilas is obsessed with Spanish soap operas. She fantasizes about them and wants her life to be like that when she marries and moves to Texas with Juan Pedro. She gets the opposite of that with her husband. Juan Pedro is an abusive no good husband.

Read More
826 Words | 4 Pages

This novel is also autobiographical. Throughout history, women have been locked in a struggle to free themselves from the borderline that separates and differentiate themselves from men. In many circles, it is agreed that the battleground for this struggle and fight exists in literature. In a

Read More
1053 Words | 5 Pages

"Technology is like art. It is a soaring exercise of the human imagination". Like everything in this world that has its good and bad effects on us, technology does too. How we use technology is important in determining what results it would bring us. Nowadays, technology is heavily used for educational purposes.

Read More

More about Comparing Woman Hollering Creek And Sandra Cisneros Siren Song

Open Document