Chapter 02 Part Two; In which Panda examines the Hero's Journey in "Never Marry a Mexican"

Woman Hollering Creek

Sandra Cisneros

“Never Marry a Mexican” embodies a different version of the hero myth than “Woman Hollering Creek” because its heroine, Clemencia, is more of a conqueror than a woman in search of liberation.

Clemencia essentially fails her Hero’s Journey to be with her lover, Drew, and subsequently takes revenge on him by seducing his son, therefore transforming from a hero into the Goddess, or Temptress, in the life of her lover’s son.

Clemencia’s Call to Adventure is her mother’s warning, “Never marry a Mexican,” (Cisneros 68). Clemencia obeys her mother and becomes the mistress of Drew, a white man. Clemencia’s Road of Trials, unlike Cleofilas’s, are outcomes of her conquest on Drew’s life.

She calls Drew’s house one night, drunk; his wife answers (77). Clemencia dares herself to let Drew’s wife know about the affair. In the narration, she tells Drew’s son about her last night with Drew: “I don’t know how to explain what I did next… I went around the house and left a trail of [gummy bears] in places I was sure she would find them,” (81).

The greatest trial to Clemencia’s conquest was the birth of Drew’s son, (74-75).

At the Final Battle, when Clemencia meets Drew and his wife at an art exhibit, she realizes her defeat: “And he comes up to me… and says in the most sincere voice you ever heard, ‘Ah, Clemencia! This is Megan.’ No introduction should have been meaner. This is Megan. Just like that,” (79). After her failure in the Final Battle, Clemencia begins to seduce Drew’s son and he becomes her Boon.

Using her Spiritual Weapon, her sexuality, she becomes the Temptress of the boy’s Hero Journey. Campbell’s Goddess “embodies both the nurturing and protective power” but also the power of destruction. According to an article by Jeff Thompson, Clemencia’s “power rises from the misuse of sexuality.”

Like his father, Drew’s son desires the comfort of Clemencia’s maternal nature and the pleasure of her sexual nature (82). However, Cisneros does not share his hero’s journey.

Clemencia’s closing words reflect these attitudes: “Sometimes all humanity strikes me as lovely. I just want to reach out and stroke someone, and say “There, there, it’s all right, honey.” She wants to both comfort and control these “hollow ‘guitars’” (Cisneros 83).

Further Reading:
Thomson, Jeff. "What is Called Heaven: Identity in Sandra Cisnero's Woman Hollering Creek." Studies in Short Fiction 31.3 (1994): 415-24. Acedemic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 1 Dec. 2009.

Chapter 02 Part One; In Which Panda examines one of her favorite devices: the Hero’s Journey in one of her favorite books: Woman Hollering Creek

Woman Hollering Creek

Sandra Cisneros

Sandra Cisneros, a prodigious writer of Chicana literature, creates true-to-life heroines who face the hardships of poverty, disappointment, and familial strife. Her work includes Caramelo (a novel), House on Orange Street, and Woman Hollering Creek.

The women in Woman Hollering Creek are on what Joseph Campbell called the Hero’s Journey. Campbell states that all hero myths address the transformation of one’s consciousness by a Road of Trials.

In a series of three posts I will examine each heroine of the three longer stories in the collection: “Woman Hollering Creek,” “Never Marry a Mexican,” and “Eyes of Zapata” in terms of the Hero Myth, and will evaluate the heroine’s success or failure to mature as a hero.

“Woman Hollering Creek” tells the story of Cleofilias, a once naïve young woman who marries too early and leaves her family to move to America with her husband, Juan Pedro. When he becomes abusive, Cleofilias begins her hero journey to escape the abusive hand of her husband, saving her unborn child.

Each Hero’s Journey begins with the Call to Adventure which offers Cleofilias the opportunity to face the unknown and gain something of physical or spiritual significance. Cleofilias’s Call to Adventure comes from the telenovelas she watches, which embody the life she covets. Through viewing them, she realizes how miserable she is:

“Not that he’s not a good man. She has to remind herself why she loves him… This man who farts and belches… this man, this father, this rival, this keeper, this lord, this master, this husband till kingdom comes,” (Cisneros 49).

The creek, La Gritonia (translated: Woman Hollering) behind her house becomes her Spiritual Weapon: a power used to overcome the antagonist. The creek is a symbol of escape and freedom from abuse.

The first time Juan Pedro beats her “she was so surprised she didn’t cry out or try to defend herself… She had done nothing but reach up to the heat on her mouth and stare at the blood on her hand,” (47-48). Cleofilias remains passive through most of the narrative, relying on Graciela, a nurse in the hospital, to be the deciding force that helps her accept the Call to Adventure and leave Juan Pedro. Graciela, therefore, is Cleofilias’s Spiritual Mentor.

If the story had ended with Graciala’s call, Cleofilias would have failed as a heroine; however, her transformation is revealed after facing the Final Battle as she waits at the Cash N Carry for Felice to drive her back to Mexico. “All morning that flutter of half-fear, half-doubt. At any moment Juan Pedro might appear in the doorway,” (Cisneros 55). Cleofilias doesn’t break under her fear and as Cleofilias rides over the bridge (the Final Battle), she begins her Triumphant Return to “Eden:” her father’s house.

Felice, the Trickster archetype of Campbell’s Hero Myth, who embodies the mischief and desire for change, gives Cleofilias her Boon, or, reward for her new level of awareness that each hero much acquire.

Her Boon is Felice’s yell as they cross over Woman Hollering Creek, (Cisneros 56). The final step in the hero’s transformation is a moment of death and rebirth, symbolizing the part of the hero that must die in order for the new part to begin. Felice’s yell proves to Cleofilias that women can have power. She is reborn, realizing she can have it, too.

I highly recommend Woman Hollering Creek, even if you’re not familiar with the Hero’s Journey.

Further Reading:

Cisneros, Sandra. Woman Hollering Creek; and other stories. New York: Vintage, 1992. Print.

Campbell, Joseph. Hero with a Thousand Faces. Novato, California: New World Library, 2008. Print.

Chapter 01: In Which Penguin Describes His Love For The Mountain Goats And Says Not A Word About Fish.

Penguin Here! While I develop my musical chops to the point where they can be presented to the public, I'll mostly be writing ABOUT music. Lots of fun albums coming! Kimya Dawson, Joanna Newsom, Baby Dee, Zolof the Rock and Roll Destroyer, and others will be releasing albums this year. Until then, lets take a trip back to 2004, when the Mountain Goats' equivalent of a musical epiphany was released.
Riding on the heels of the success of 2002's "Tallahasee" One of John Darnielles'(Head man of the mountain goats) MANY concept albums, this one about his famous "alpha couple", about whom he is rumored to have written upwards of 50 songs, John was ready for a change.

The mountain goats are one of the most prolific bands in music. John started making albums under this name in 1991. The songs recorded in this time period, which spans all the way to "Tallahassee", were recorded on a boombox in his living room. He seemingly never stopped recording, and by 2004 had 11 full lengths, 21 eps, and 3 compilation albums under his belt. But all these songs, all 700+ of them, were not about HIM. His frantic, literate lyrics usually described down on their luck couples, vagabonds, metalheads, and all other types under the sun. 2004 changed all that.

In "we shall all be healed", John finally breaks down to write of his own experiences, which are jolting and heartbreaking enough to fit right in with his many characters. The album describes many months he spent in Belgium in his teen years, living in a small, rented shack, smoking methamphetamine with friends. His time there, as he describes it in these songs, was full of humor, heartbreak, love, hate, death, and memories, both good and bad.

Song by Song review.

Slow West Vultures: The album starts out triuphantly, with John Furiously Strummed Guitar, mixed with strangely arranged strings and marching band-esque drums. In a Nasally growl, he describes his arrival in Belgium, and the wild panic the group felt, hyped up on meth and youth.

Palmcorder Yajna: The Mountain Goats old boom-box fuzz makes a reappearance for this song. John sings here from the point of you of a friend, who's declining mental state makes him begin to question life, and fills him with disdain for the situation he finds himself in.

Linda Blair Was Born Innocent: A tribute to his friends who died in the the throws of drug addiction, John here shows the hopeful youthfulness that was trapped inside each of them, only to have it needlessly taken away.

Letter From Belgium: John again. takes the form of a friend to construct a letter home from Belgium, full of surreal imagery, which under it has a sinister, worried air, almost as if he's crying for help. Johns fuzzy yell is in top form here.

The Young Thousands: This track displays his worry for the new generation, and has a poetic warning for all new drug addicts. Of note here is Johns triplets on his guitar, which show his interest, and former involvement, in heavy metal music.

Your Belgian Things: After one of the groups meth labs exploded, the gig was up. John writes of how no situation like theirs can ever hold up. He also shows genuine love and affection for his companions in this track, and longs for his former girlfriend, with noone to help in his time of need.

Mole: After getting clean, john visits one one of his several still addicted friend in an IC unit, recalling the naivety of his time in Belgium, and wishing better for his friend.

Home Again Garden Grove: Returning in his memory to Belgium, John talks of his time there in graphic detail, using jarring imagery to illustrate the pain felt by all there for the loss of their innocence.

All Up The Seething Coast: John describes a relapse several years on, using increasingly strange language to illustrate is paranoia, and his desperate shame during this time. This is one of the few MG songs to feature finger picking.

Quito: In this song, which recalls his early, more upbeat tracks, john talks about his recovery, or rather its attempt, and thinks about the days to come.

Cotton: In this, a kind of summing up of the album, John talks about leaving the past behind him and moving on with his life, in a landscape of shimmering pianos, warm electric guitar, and experimental drums courtesy of John Wurstenburg.

Against Pollution: John takes the roll of a friend one more time, taking a look at the life of one of the few that didn't end up dead or in jail. It chronicles his murder in self defense of an armed robber and his conversion to Catholicism. The references to religious imagery here are a foreshadowing of johns increasing interest in the subject, leading to his 2009 Christianity inspired album "The Life Of The World To Come".

Pigs That Ran Straightaway Into The Water, The Triumph Of; In this, the final song on the album, John Takes The form of a Biblical demon, begging not to be returned to hell. Its a strange, but fitting ending, to this triumphant album.



There you go panda! I know it ran on and on, but it felt REALLY good to finally talk about my thoughts on music! I promise the next one wont be so long! Love you! ^^.

Chapter 00 In which Panda explains 'who we are'

It's very simple. And not very long.

My name is Panda. And the one I love is Penguin.

I am a writer. He's a musician.

We've wrapped our love in poems warmth and music for pillows - a sweet and soft secret fort.
We stamp our lives in letters and chords, words and sounds; grew up in our heads; found each other by a miracle; fell in love to soundtrack of "The Thief" and "Night Windows" and now write and play intoxicated in a love of

fresh white

and inky black.