Edición Instituto Cervantes at FAS - Harvard University
Estudios del Observatorio/Observatorio Studies. 099-06/2026EN (Orig.)
Abstract: In Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories, Sandra Cisneros explores the lives of various girls and women across both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border, simultaneously fusing and juxtaposing both cultures to craft the identities of her characters. In “Mericans,” Cisneros demonstrates young Michele’s internal embrace of Mexican culture by including calques, pop culture references, and Mexican social customs within her all-English narrative. In “My Tocaya,” Cisneros contrasts the opposing attitudes Patricia and Trish have toward their Mexican heritage through their respective embrace and rejection of their shared Spanish name. Sentence structures, grammar, and level of codeswitching reveal a character’s age, dominant language, and even emotional situation in “Little Miracles, Kept Promises.” Cisneros wields Spanglish like a magnifying glass, harnessing the bilingual reader’s “different ways of looking” and creating complex, enriched characters through Spanglish.