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Women Creating Culture

This week we discussed women as cultural legends. Some of these cultural myths were based on real women, but all of the stories and images have been fictionalized to promote a patriarchal agenda and to satisfy the male gaze. In the modern era, feminists have been trying to rewrite these legends to turn these women into feminist heroes. 

La Llorona by Angela Yarber


One such feminist retelling can be found in Sandra Cisneros’ short story “Woman Hollering Creek” (1991). Set on the actual Woman Hollering Creek in Seguin, TX, this story reimagines the La Llorona myth. Where the traditional story casts La Llorona as a tragic character at best, and a monster at worst, Cisneros’ main character, Cleofilas, finds the strength to leave her abusive husband in search of a better life for herself and her child. She does not want to end her story as a victim, but instead accepts the help of another woman to take charge of her life and pursue a happier ending. 


“When I look at la Virgen de Guadalupe now, she is not the Lupe of my childhood, no longer the one in my grandparents’ house in Tepeyac nor is she the one of the Roman Catholic Church, the one I bolted the door against in my teens and twenties. Like every woman who matters to me, I have had to search for her in the rubble of history. And I have found her. She is the sex goddess, a goddess who makes me feel good about my sexual power, my sexual energy….” (Sandra Cisneros, "Guadalupe the Sex Goddess," 1996)

 

Cisneros also tackles the representation of La Virgen of Guadalupe in her essay “Guadalupe the Sex Goddess” (1996). Rather than accepting the images of passivity, submission, shame, and guilt that accompany the traditional stories of La Virgen, Cisneros reframes her as an icon of positive sexuality. For Cisneros, she is another version of Coatlicue, both creative and destructive, “not silent and passive, but silently gathering force.”

In stories like "Woman Hollering Creek," such as "Never Marry a Mexican," and "Little Miracles, Kept Promises, Cisneros reimagines other cultural figures such as Malinche. By rewriting these tales from a feminist perspective, she is helping Chicanas redefine womanhood by allowing Latina icons to emerge from beneath the stifling cover of patriarchy. Cisneros gives Chicanas images of independent, powerful feminist heroes that better reflect the experiences of modern women.

References

Cisneros, Sandra. "Guadalupe the Sex Goddess." 1996. https://citedatthecrossroads.net/chst302/files/2012/12/Sandra-Cisneros.pdf

Cisneros, Sandra. "Woman Hollering Creek." 1991. 
https://jerrywbrown.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Woman-Hollering-Creek-Cisneros-Sandra.pdf

Yarber, Angela. La Llorona.  https://images.fineartamerica.com/images/artworkimages/mediumlarge/1/la-llorona-angela-yarber.jpg

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