The book has a rather unusual structure. The stories seem to be chronologically compiled from childhood to adolescence and adulthood; however, each story has no explicit beginning or end. The stories open by identifying the main characters by their names and the protagonist seems to shift with every story. If the stories are told by the same narrator, she introduces herself indirectly through her tocaya. She seems to demarcate the borders by offering a birds-eye-perspective on her identity, negotiating her location between borders.
Cisneros seems to represent her position between Anglo and Mexican culture, “el otro lado- on the other side” by juxtaposing the Spanish words with the English words. Although she uses Spanish words once in awhile, I think this is the first time she placed them side by side.
I think it is interesting to see a book structurally similar to … y no se lo trago la tierra and find a poignant difference- the importance of naming stressed and how names function book. It reminds me of Who Would Have Thought It and how nearly all characters have names. Julie, the only surviving canary, symbolically trades places with Lavinia who ends up caged by the corruption of the ideological American dream.
I think Woman Hollering Creek and other stories ties all our reading together with its similarities with the other books.
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2 comments:
Hi Nicole,
I liked your comment on structure, I also posted something similar. I definitely see the link in style with "...Y no se lo trago la tierra" although there are profound differences in the content and themes, clearly there are some ways to link the authors in their ideas.
I think that Cisneros employs Spanish phrases into her writings almost as a little reminder, if that makes any sense. She wants the reader to know that she is Chicana, and that her roots are still with her. I know that mind sound odd in a simple way, but to me it makes sense. I also like it, it adds a bit of character to the novel and tops off her already crazy and mixed up writing style.
Nice observations.
-Kaan
I like your mention of Cisneros' small insertions of spanish words. I definitely found this to be a significant structural aspect of her style. I found the words helped to stop you and pull you out of the text. It is so easy to relate to Cisneros' writing that I found when I was getting too caught up in her story and taking it on as my own, these small spanish words and phrases functioned as reminder to me... This is not my story. This is the story of a woman with authentic Spanish ancestry.....
i just stopped halfway through my comment and read Kaan's. It's really interesting how similar our observations were on this point!
Anyway, I liked your observations and I'm glad you mentioned this significant aspect of Cisneros' style.
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