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. He cheats on Cleofilas and always complains to her. “He slapped her once, and then again, and again; until the lip split and bled an orchid of blood (Cisneros).” Cleofilas lets this abusive behavior keep up until she gets examined by a doctor and is offered to be taken back to Mexico by a woman named Felice. She owns her own truck and this makes Cleofilas astonished that a woman can afford one by herself.
The abusive husband is Juan Pedro. Juan Pedro wants to take Cleofilas and move to Seguin, Texas and start a new life there. He can’t get a decent job and they live in a low-end home. He takes his frustration out on Cleofilas. He beats her, cheats on her, and yells at her for things that are not her fault. “She had done nothing but reach up to the heat on her mouth and stare at the blood on her hand as if even then she didn’t understand (Cisneros).” Juan Pedro keeps this behavior up.
A woman who goes by Felice changes Cleofilas idea on how a woman should be treated and their purpose to society. Felice helps Cleofilas escape her husband and takes her across the border back to Mexico. Cleofilas is inspired by Felice