Topic > A Coming of Age Theme in Woman Hollering Creek

Sandra Cisneros, author of Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories, uses perspective in an adolescent context to explore and develop her ideas about the raw Mexican-American experience in opening of his novel. Cisneros addresses the theme of coming of age and growing up as a Mexican-American child in many vignettes. She describes growing up as a process full of complications and uncertainties as she discovers identity and how children use these experiences to shape themselves. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Children from the adolescent perspectives of openness begin to learn what it means to grow up and come to realize how their race, skin color, economic class, and family may define them. In the opening story, Cisneros demonstrates his authorial intent to get readers to understand the effects of being a young man of color by showing the ways in which children make sense of the world as they grow up. In "My Friend Lucy Who Smells Like Corn," the narrator announces, "I'll sit in the sun, I don't care if it's a million trillion degrees outside, so my skin can get so dark it's blue where it is bends like Lucy's. Her entire family likes it that way. The narrator's interest in Lucy's dark skin shows how young children connect ideas about race and identity like Lucy's indicates that the narrator does not understand race but recognizes the difference between them. In “My Friend Lucy That Smells Like Corn” Cisneros talks about the children as poor and destitute. The narrator describes the shoes she and Lucy wear as “aqua-colored flip-flops just like mine that we bought at the K -mart for only 79 cents at the same time” and also explains that “Lucy has nine sisters, a screen door without a screen,” and “Only girls and a father who is almost never home and a mother who says: Ay! I'm really tired. The innocent descriptions create images of a poor family, which the narrator sees as similar endearing qualities that make them more like “sisters.” The vignette is the casual story of two young Mexican-American girls who are best friends. Now, here's the point that Cisneros tried to get across and it captures the voice and gaze of a child perfectly. While, as a reader, the signs that they are deprived and living in poverty are very evident, and as minorities they face many difficulties. However, neither the narrator nor Lucy ever acknowledges these struggles or the deprivations inherent in poverty. Children do not express the feeling of oppression because they are still unaware of society and are experiencing the richness of childhood and enjoying life while they can. Cisnero continues to show the ways in which young Mexican-American boys make sense of the world as they mature in the vignette, “Eleven.” The narrator, Rachel, describes: “when you are eleven, you are also ten, and nine, and eight, and seven, and six, and five, and four, and three, and two, and one…….How some days you might say something stupid, and that's the part of you that's still ten years old. Or maybe some days you might need to sit on your mother's lap because you're afraid, and that part of you is five. And maybe one day, when you grow up, you'll need to cry like you're three, and that's okay. Rachel's understanding that age cannot define the whole person allows readers to recognize her innocent take on a deeper message; is able to capture the idea that human beings are multidimensional and are shaped by years and past experiences., 1992.