Although they were written nearly four centuries apart, the short story Woman Hollering Creek and the poem They Flee from Me explore similar themes of the pure human experience such as the power struggle of love, human perception, and the unpredictability of life. In both Woman Hollering Creek by Sandra Cisneros and They Flee from Me by Sir Thomas Wyatt, a recurring metaphor of love being a power struggle is present between the main subjects of each writing. For example, in They flee from me, the speaker reminisces on when he held the upper hand on the lover who once put herself at great risk to visit his chambers and “take bread at my hand” (Wyatt line 6). However, the power shifts to the woman in the relationship as she eventually distances …show more content…
In the end, she snatches back the power that her husband stole from her and leaves. Although both stories were written nearly four centuries apart, their shared message that love is a power struggle continues to persist in today’s society and will likely continue forever. Additionally, there is an overlying sense of irony throughout each of the texts. At the beginning, they flee from me, the speaker describes how he was once on the top of the food chain and how he reveled in the fact that his lover actively sought after him. Yet, by the end of the poem, the speaker has seemingly switched roles with his lover, who now avidly avoids him. He is now the one who tries to seek her out, to no avail. Conversely, at the beginning of Woman Hollering Creek, Cleófilas is convinced that in an abusive or dangerous situation, she would react like the strong female Telenovela characters she watches on television. Ironically, when she eventually finds herself in that exact situation, she is unable to find the will to stand up for herself and