Both novels Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories, by Sandra Cisneros and Bless Me, Ultima, by Rudolfo Anaya, render the coming of age theme, one in which a young person experiences a change from childhood to adulthood. These life experiences make one mature and can make one question faith, love, life or well-being. In the novel, Bless Me, Ultima, the protagonist, Antonio’s experiences make him question his faith. Comparatively, in the short story Woman Hollering Creek, Cheofilas questions love in the form of marriage. While this questioning leads to the characters’ growth, it all unfolds by way of the literary elements of magical realism; which causes them to reconsider what life truly means. Does it mean it is normal for life to be filled with faith, prayer and loss, or …show more content…
In Bless Me, Ultima, Antonio experiences the significance of religion, however its reality confounds him. As Antonio goes through the life event of witnessing Lupito’s death, he expresses; “I had started praying to myself from the moment I heard the first shot, and I never stopped praying until I reached home. Over and over through my mind ran the words of the Act of Contrition” (Anaya 24). Thus, Antonio begins to question if prayer and God really hold the answer. Similarly, in “Woman Hollering Creek” Cheofilas, the antagonist; is fixates on her dreamland of marriage being like the romance of the telenovelas she used to watch on television. Cheofilas envisions imaginary thoughts of the perfect marriage. She states, “Somehow one ought to live one’s life like that, don’t you think? You or no one. Because to suffer for love is good. The pain all sweet somehow. In the end” (Cisneros 45). Reality makes her realize that after her wedding, her relationship with her husband Juan Pedro; does not provide the answer/outcome she expected. Instead, it leads her to question