
This story left me wondering about so many things that I had to take some extra time to check them out. The first thing, I was completely lost when it came to the translation of many of the Spanish words used. Secondly I found myself dwelling on the mention of Llorona, which was a legend about a woman who was extremely beautiful and vain. She married a handsome, wealthy man and had two children. Life was good for Maria until her husband returned to the wild ways of being a ranchero. He would be gone for months and only return to see his children. To make a story short Maria became envious of her children for the love of their father and cast them into the river. Realizing what she had done she raced downstream to catch them but they were already gone. The villagers found Maria the next day by the bank of the river. It is said that you can still hear her crying and to this day "Where are my children"? The children are warned not to go out at night and to stay away from the river bank, in fear that she will take them and they will never return. I just thought I would share that since I found it to be extremely interesting. So back to the original story; it is full of symbolism. The names for instance are underlying meanings, Dolores meaning sorrowful, and Soledad meaning solidarity or alone. It was amazing how this author told this story almost to the point where I questioned if it was a piece from her own life. The loneliness and despair, although hidden, seem to come to life. If you have ever known anyone in a similar situation you can definitely relate to her feelings. It just leaves you hanging wondering what will happen to her.. I absolutely loved it!

wow the Llorana story was really good to know! that helped me see "Woman Hollering Creek" from a fuller perspective. way to research the spanish, too! i had no idea the names were so symbolic in the story.
ReplyDeleteit was definitely written in a realistic fashion - i could totally see this happening to someone..
This was a great story. It was good that you and Ashley ended up at the same table, since both of your stories dealt with abuse. I never would have thought about the names being symbols if it hadn't been pointed out.
ReplyDeleteThe Llorana background helps me appreciate the story more.
ReplyDeleteBTW, Cisneros is the only girl from a family of 5 or 6 brothers. I don't know how much of the novel is biographical, but I'm willing to bet some of it is.
For your independent novel, I think you should read Woman Hollering Creek in its entirety. You would really love it.