“Cleofilas thought her life would have to be like that, like a telenovela, only now the episodes got sadder and sadder. And there were no commercials in between for comic relief. And no happy ending in sight. She thought this when she sat with the baby out by the creek behind the house. Cleofilas de…? But somehow she would have ti change her name to Topazio, or Yesenia, Cristal, Adriana, Stefania, Andrea, something more poetic than Cleofilas. Everything happened to women with names like jewels. But what happen to Cleofilas? Nothing. But a crack in the face.”
This selected passage from “Woman Hollering Creek” lends itself as an example of one of the overall themes of this story which illustrates the naïve and innocent impressions about romance and marriage. At this point in the plot, the story’s main protagonist, Cleofilas, has developed an idealistic but artificial way about thinking of these concepts due to media outlets such as her telenovelas which romanticizes everyday life and relationships.
In the first sentence, the omniscient narrator depicts Cleofilas as a dynamic character, that is, one capable of change. However, it becomes obvious that she will only achieve change when the right catalyst is added to her dire situation. In this case, it was the on-going conflict between herself and her husband, Juan Pedro, which made her realize that her life would never be like those of the glamorous woman in the telenovelas. The sentence, “And there were no commercials in between for comic relief,” portrays the state of emotional exhaustion she goes through with her everyday life. This section of the paragraph personifies a tone of despair and complete helplessness especially when the narrator says “And no happy ending in sight.” It’s as if the narrator pities Cleofilas for setting herself up so perfectly to fail to achieve an unattainable image. Cleofilas is stuck.
“But what happen to Cleofilas? Nothing. But a crack in the face.” These short clipped coupled sentences offer much to the characterization breakdown of Cleofilas. The narrator leads the reader to believe that nothing will come of Cleofilas’ fantasizing notions. Nothing, that is, except a “crack in the face.” I find the imagery of the word “crack” to be more shocking than the word scratch or bruise would be because it is an unusual way for the narrator to describe someone as if they were a statue. Maybe this was the narrator’s objective; to draw parallels between Cleofilas and a statue. In a way they are both stuck as they are with no means of escape unless helped from an outside source. I also see this “crack” as a type of chip on her shoulder. It’s location on her face represents the place her husband lashes at on her. She received this “chip” from admiring the passionate but unrealistic telenovelas and now that she has had a dose of hard hitting reality, her entire outlook has been transformed which in turn lends itself to her character development and changing depth. The telenovelas play a huge role as a motif in this passage by symbolizing the works underlying theme of Cleofilas’ naïve views of life, yet how they also later act as a foil to her greater epiphany and change in outlook on life.
My question is to what point do you think fantasizing about something idealistic goes past the point of healthy day dreaming to something that is an unhealthy obsession such as Cleofilas with the telenovelas? Is it when you start adding yourself to the equation and give yourself false hope? Or is this false hope a good thing in which Cleofilas can hold on to in order to keep her family together? In other words, is it worth it?
In the first sentence, the omniscient narrator depicts Cleofilas as a dynamic character, that is, one capable of change. However, it becomes obvious that she will only achieve change when the right catalyst is added to her dire situation. In this case, it was the on-going conflict between herself and her husband, Juan Pedro, which made her realize that her life would never be like those of the glamorous woman in the telenovelas. The sentence, “And there were no commercials in between for comic relief,” portrays the state of emotional exhaustion she goes through with her everyday life. This section of the paragraph personifies a tone of despair and complete helplessness especially when the narrator says “And no happy ending in sight.” It’s as if the narrator pities Cleofilas for setting herself up so perfectly to fail to achieve an unattainable image. Cleofilas is stuck.
“But what happen to Cleofilas? Nothing. But a crack in the face.” These short clipped coupled sentences offer much to the characterization breakdown of Cleofilas. The narrator leads the reader to believe that nothing will come of Cleofilas’ fantasizing notions. Nothing, that is, except a “crack in the face.” I find the imagery of the word “crack” to be more shocking than the word scratch or bruise would be because it is an unusual way for the narrator to describe someone as if they were a statue. Maybe this was the narrator’s objective; to draw parallels between Cleofilas and a statue. In a way they are both stuck as they are with no means of escape unless helped from an outside source. I also see this “crack” as a type of chip on her shoulder. It’s location on her face represents the place her husband lashes at on her. She received this “chip” from admiring the passionate but unrealistic telenovelas and now that she has had a dose of hard hitting reality, her entire outlook has been transformed which in turn lends itself to her character development and changing depth. The telenovelas play a huge role as a motif in this passage by symbolizing the works underlying theme of Cleofilas’ naïve views of life, yet how they also later act as a foil to her greater epiphany and change in outlook on life.
My question is to what point do you think fantasizing about something idealistic goes past the point of healthy day dreaming to something that is an unhealthy obsession such as Cleofilas with the telenovelas? Is it when you start adding yourself to the equation and give yourself false hope? Or is this false hope a good thing in which Cleofilas can hold on to in order to keep her family together? In other words, is it worth it?
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