Katelyn Metelski

Professor Cooper

ENG 102-005

3/8/17

Essay 2

A fear for ones life is what Totoy in My Fathers Noose and Cleofilas in Woman

Hollering Creek have in common. Both characters have a fear for what their life will be like.

Totoy hangs from a rope from the kitchen ceiling and fears his life may common to an end at any

moment. Totoy also has a fear that he will be like his mother who was abusive to her children.

Cleofilas has a fear that her life wont perfect like the telenovelas because her husband is abusing

her. She fears not only for her life, but for her childrens lives.

Cleofilas in Woman Hollering Creek thinks of her hausaband as this man, this

father, this rival, this keeper, this lord, this master, this husband till kingdom come. (Cisneros

224). Totoy he notices his mother is balding. Her gray hair is loosely bunned and there are

triangles of white flesh between the comb tracks. Her body is thick and intimidating, fleshy roll

layered onto fat, souvenirs from eleven pregnancies. (Talusan 6)

In todays society, women are commonly called feminists despite the woman not calling

herself a feminist. Cleofilas background makes her have a view point of your husband is

supposed to take care you. That you are to find a good man who has a good job to provide for

you and the wifes job is to stay home and provide him with many children. I wouldnt classify

Cleofilas as a feminist because its her cultural background that held her back from her finding
herself as her own independent person. Although many women like Cleofilas are clearly not

feminists from their backgrounds, most observe or visit a feminine perspective through their

struggles to support their families.

Cleofilas thinks her neighbors lives are awful in the beginning because they dont have

husbands but then her viewpoint is changed the further she gets into her awful marriage. They

were too busy remembering the men who had left through either choice or by circumstance, and

would never come back. (222), is what Cleofilas thought of her single neighbors in the

beginning. She thought their lives were sad and unfulfilling. Dolores mourned but never

remarried and did her own thing with her garden. Soledad moved on and choose to forget her

missing husband almost to the point like he never even existed. She carried on, on her own

perfectly happy of being free from a man. Her two neighbors are very different women but both

are independent with no man to provide or hold them back from being themselves, which some

people these days would classify them as feminists.

Even though Cleofilas is a married woman she soon realizes that she is practically a

widow because her husband is never around for the majority of the day. She is left on her own to

fend for herself and the baby until he comes home, usually buzzed from going to the bar, and

they go to bed with barely a word unless he yells at her for doing something wrong. Women have

to give themselves pep talks to continue on in their daily lives. this man, this father, this

rival, this keeper, this lord, this master, this husband till kingdom come. (Cisneros 224), this is

how Cleofilass culture has brainwashed her. Cleofilas had to reassure herself every day that life

was fine and it was ok that she was at home all alone with the baby while her husband was at

work all day and sometimes didnt come home. Cleofilas begins to wonder about her neighbors

not having husbands but they are still living their lives. She spends time with her neighbors and
learns about what its like to not have to answer to a man or take care of a man. Cleofilas begins

to want that for herself because thats what shes practically doing now.

When a womans husband is not home or paying attention to them, such as Cleofilass

situation, they make due and convince themselves that its ok that they are practically an

independent woman even though they are married. A doubt. Slender as a hair. (224), is when

Cleofilass world begins to crumble, when she begins to question everything shes ever believed

because of the telenovelas. This is what some would consider a feminist point of view of wanting

to take control of their own lives without the dictation of a husband. Cleofilas realizes that shes

the backbone of the household even though its her husband that brings home the money. She

realizes that shes not happy, that shes afraid for herself and her babys safety, so she decides to

leave. This can be considered the most feminist thing Cleofilas has done and may possibly will

ever do.

Feminists today are given a bad name because most assume that being a feminist is all

about just women. Cleofilas wanted to be her own person but still have a husband and a happy

life until she realized that her husband was not the man to live a happy life with. A true feminist

is wants both sexes to be equal. Cleofilas didnt fight for herself until she decided to leave. In

Cleofilass life, men are the money makers and woman are the home makers. I dont consider

Cleofilas to be a feminist because she pitied her neighbors, tried to convince herself everything

was fine, and then left for her babys safety more than anything.
 Sources

"Brevity 23: Grace Talusan." Brevity 23: Grace Talusan. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Mar. 2017.

Woman Hollering Creek. Sandra Cisneros. USA, 1991. PDF File