Woman Hollering Creek
“Eyes of Zapata” follows Ines, the cursed wife of revolutionist Emiliano Zapata, and her tragic Hero’s Journey to remain with her lover.
Ines’s journey is unique in that, traditionally, the hero embarks on a quest to improve life, usually for a group of innocent people; however, Ines’s stubborn refusal to leave Zapata actually endangers not only her life, but the lives of her family. After accepting the Call to Adventure – by kissing Zapata under the avocado tree (Cisneros 107-108) – her father disowns her, saying “You’ve turned out just like the perra that bore you,’” (89).
Her father is a Threshold Guardian, someone who attempts to block the heroine from beginning the Descent into the adventure. During the Descent, the hero makes allies and enemies; after defying him, Ines makes her father an enemy. He is also a victim; one of Ines’s trials is the capture of her father (Cisneros 91).
Ines suffers many other trials including hard labor (89); lack of food (93, 102); and burning down of her house by Zapata’s enemies (103).
Ines’s greatest trial, however, is Zapata’s infidelity. “I saw you asleep next to that woman from Villa de Ayala” (98).
Zapata seems to have the role of God/Tempter; however, he is an alteration of the archetype. The Temptress’s role is to test the hero by tempting him to leave the quest. If he overcomes it, he proves himself. Instead of tempting Ines to quit, Zapata tempts her to continue the journey despite the growing destruction it has on her life.
However, Ines insists that she has power over Zapata, a Spiritual Weapon, which lures him back to her after he commits adultery (Cisneros 99).
Ines’s actual Spiritual Weapon is prophesy; she is convicted of being a witch (105). “The women in my family… always had the power to see with more than our eyes,” (105).
It is only through her visions that she is able to return to her Eden; “My sky, my life, my eyes. Let me look at you. Before you open those eyes of yours… Before we go back to what we’ll always be,” (113). They “become her source of power” because they are “able to create an acceptable world...” (Thomson 421).
In the end, the only Boon Ines receives are the nights Zapata comes to sleep with her. Ines has essentially achieved her goal, yet her life has become a Shadow of what it was. This outcome usually results when a hero has failed his quest.
Psychologist Carl Jung viewed the Hero’s Journey as a process of individuation, reconciling the conscious with the unconscious. To him, heroes are “a metaphor for the human search of self-knowledge and wholeness.” Despite their success or failure to achieve their desired goal, the three heroines come to an understanding of their identity and take an active role in their destiny; according to Jung, they have completed their Hero’s Journey.
Ines’s journey is unique in that, traditionally, the hero embarks on a quest to improve life, usually for a group of innocent people; however, Ines’s stubborn refusal to leave Zapata actually endangers not only her life, but the lives of her family. After accepting the Call to Adventure – by kissing Zapata under the avocado tree (Cisneros 107-108) – her father disowns her, saying “You’ve turned out just like the perra that bore you,’” (89).
Her father is a Threshold Guardian, someone who attempts to block the heroine from beginning the Descent into the adventure. During the Descent, the hero makes allies and enemies; after defying him, Ines makes her father an enemy. He is also a victim; one of Ines’s trials is the capture of her father (Cisneros 91).
Ines suffers many other trials including hard labor (89); lack of food (93, 102); and burning down of her house by Zapata’s enemies (103).
Ines’s greatest trial, however, is Zapata’s infidelity. “I saw you asleep next to that woman from Villa de Ayala” (98).
Zapata seems to have the role of God/Tempter; however, he is an alteration of the archetype. The Temptress’s role is to test the hero by tempting him to leave the quest. If he overcomes it, he proves himself. Instead of tempting Ines to quit, Zapata tempts her to continue the journey despite the growing destruction it has on her life.
However, Ines insists that she has power over Zapata, a Spiritual Weapon, which lures him back to her after he commits adultery (Cisneros 99).
Ines’s actual Spiritual Weapon is prophesy; she is convicted of being a witch (105). “The women in my family… always had the power to see with more than our eyes,” (105).
It is only through her visions that she is able to return to her Eden; “My sky, my life, my eyes. Let me look at you. Before you open those eyes of yours… Before we go back to what we’ll always be,” (113). They “become her source of power” because they are “able to create an acceptable world...” (Thomson 421).
In the end, the only Boon Ines receives are the nights Zapata comes to sleep with her. Ines has essentially achieved her goal, yet her life has become a Shadow of what it was. This outcome usually results when a hero has failed his quest.
Psychologist Carl Jung viewed the Hero’s Journey as a process of individuation, reconciling the conscious with the unconscious. To him, heroes are “a metaphor for the human search of self-knowledge and wholeness.” Despite their success or failure to achieve their desired goal, the three heroines come to an understanding of their identity and take an active role in their destiny; according to Jung, they have completed their Hero’s Journey.
Thomson states: “This is the power of Cisneros’s women, to see and to remember, to master the pain of the past and understand the confluence of all things… they become themselves through the honest acceptance of the world beyond the body” (416).
Additional 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.
Additional 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.
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