Daily Archives: May 15, 2014

Martyr

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Martyr – Noun

Definition:a person who is killed or who suffers greatly for a religion, cause, etc.

: a person who pretends to suffer or who exaggerates suffering in order to get praise or sympathy

: a person who suffers greatly from something (such as an illness)

Source:  http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/martyr

Found in:  Woman Hollering Creek by SANDRA CISNEROS

Quote : “Oh, and her name’s if Cleofilas.  I don’t know. One of those Mexican saints, I guess. A martyr or something.”

When the doctor asks one of the nurses on the phone to give Cleofilas a ride to San Antonio to help her escape her abusive husband, he tell her Cleofilas’ name. He says her name is meant  a saint. Then he spells it for her to write it down.

Telenovelas

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The telenovelas describe the love and life many girls anticipated as they grow up to be young women.  Clefilas enjoyed watching telenovelas.  Although often in the telenovelas, hearts were broken and betrayal was common, they depicted the perfect life to live. She has an image that women from the telenovelas possess wonderful lives. She would do her hair and wear her make just like they do. This shows that she is not content with her looks and appearance.  They were also her guide for learning about love. She fantasized of finding her true love, “the great love of one’s life” as she stated.  When she married Juan Pedro, she thought her life would shift and be like the ones from the telenovelas. She dreamed of living a life similar but she finds out that life does not always turn out the way she wants it to be.   Telenovas can also been seen as an escape for Cleofila from the reality of her own life in which the “kind of the books and songs and telenovelas describe when one finds, finally, the great love of one’s life and does whatever one can, must do, at whatever the cost” (page 280, paragraph 1).  She constantly evaluates her love for her husband to that of a soap opera.  She finally realizes that marriage is not always like a fairytale or as it is portrayed on soap operas.  After that she gets the courage to leave her abusive husband for a simpler life back at home and possibly live with her father and six brothers.

Women Hollering creek

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In the short story “women Hollering Creek” by Sandra Cisneros, Cleofilas who marries Juan Pedro. She leaves behind his father and six brothers who looked over her for an unknown future for her. She feels trapped in an abusive marriage She finds out that life does not work like the telenovelas she watched at home. Cleofilas looks back to the days before she is married and remembers how happy she was. She got married and moved to Seguin, Texas, She think you have to suffer for love to be good. She knows from watching her telenovelas, but life will not always be easy but things will work out. Soon her husband begins to beat her and she realizes that her life is not a dream life. Her marriage did not contained positive scene from the telenovelas but just the negative side. She goes to the doctor and they notice her bruises from an abusive relationship and arrange for her escape back home.

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Recitatif – (noun

Definition: 1 is a derivative of recitative with similar definition. 2.the nature of or resembling recitation or declamation

Found in : Recitatif by Toni Morrison

Passage: Recitatif is the title of the story by Toni Morrison . The story is about two young girls named Roberta and Twyla. The word was not used in the story.

I was interested in defining this word because it stood out to me as a title of a story. At first I actually thought it was a made up word . After finding the definition it makes perfect sense

 

 

Telenovela: Women Hollering Creek

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The telenovelas play a significant role in Cleofilas’ life, as well of most of the women around her. These soap operas influence women’s overall appearance. The way the women dress and behave stems from what they see on these tv shows. Cleofilas copies the way the women comb their hair and do their makeup, and the narrator alters the dress she’s wearing to Cleofila’s wedding based on a dress that she saw on one of the soap operas. The shows also influence the way that Cleofilas viewed how love should be. she wanted her love life to match the one she saw on tv, where there is unconditional love between a man and a women, and against all odds they find themselves together and deeply in love with each other. Cleofilas expected the passion that she saw in the shows to be in her marriage. Instead, she was married to someone who didn’t have much care for romance and affection, and who treated his family as a burden. She also thought that she would handle some situations differently from the way that they were handled in the shows. For example, when she would watch a woman being slapped by another man, Cleofilas told herself that that could not be her, and she would fight back or run away if the situation ever presented itself to her.  When it did, however, she was so shocked that it actually happened to her, that she just sat there and didn’t respond. All she could do was comfort the man felt guilty for slapping her. I think that she was not only shocked by it actually happening to her, but her lack of response as well. She had envisioned herself doing one thing, but saw herself doing nothing at all. That must’ve been a hard personal struggle, because she could have questioned her strength. One sure thing is she could take these situations on the tevelnovelas and accept the fact that the good and the bad of the shows cold actually happen to her, and there is not guarantee that would be a happy ending to her life the way there is in the shows.

Woman Hollering Creek: Telenovela

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The Telenovela in “Woman Hollering creek” by Sandra Cianeros stands as a blueprint for the life that Cleofilas sought for when she married Juan Pedro. The telenovela functions asher escape and a comparison to her abusive husband. The soap opera conditions her view about romance. It has fixed views on love and life and Cleofilas anticipated this same treatment from her husband. She wanted “passion in its purest crystalline essence. The kind of books and songs and telenovela describe when one finds, finally, the great love of ones life.”(Cisneros 1401)

Before getting married, her life was full of chores and dealing with her family. Getting married she thought her life would be different but it took a different road.she became a victim of domestic violence , “when the moment came, and he slapped her once , and then again and again; until the lip split and bled an orchid of blood.”(1403)

The telenovela also functions as enjoyment to Cleofilas in “Women Hollering creek”. She enjoys watching the soup operas because she knew her life will never be like the beautiful married and happy people she sees. Every time her husband puts his hand on her, she explains a new telenovela she has been watching . The telenovela serves as a friend to Cleofilas and something to confines too. It’s very important to her.