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.