Illusions Versus Reality In Short Stories: Illusions Versus Reality

Illusions Versus Reality “You must not tell anyone,” my mother said, “what I am about to tell you” (Kingston, 1507). Within the stories “The Swimmer” by John Cheever, “Woman Hollering Creek” by Sandra Cisneros, and “No Name Woman” by Maxine Hong Kingston all revolve are the stifling of voices and lose of identity. In “The Swimmer” the main character Neddy loses his identity while he swims across “Lucinda’s River.” Cleofilas in “Woman Hollering Creek” has her voice stifled by her abusive husband. While the protagonist in “No Name Woman” has her voice stifled by her mother about certain subjects. Within these stories both men and women struggle because of who they surround themselves with that stifle their voices and lose identity. Above

“Domestic abuse affects immigrant and American-born women alike but immigrant women suffer from particular vulnerabilities- particularly, abusive partners who use the woman’s immigration status to keep them from leaving an abusive marriage” (). “The first time she had been so surprised she didn’t cry out or try to defend herself. She had always said she would strike back if a man, any man, were to strike her” (Cisneros 1590). Cleofilas keeps quite when her husband hits her, but she knows that things need to change. This is when she starts to overcome her obstacle of her husband by believing the nurses can help her. This is how she escapes her husband and goes back to her family. In this story, she starts out when surrounding herself which bad people such as her husband. The nurses are a good friendship for her since they bring her to safety. This empowers the theme that love trumps power. Cleofilas chooses the love for her unborn child over the power her husband holds over

This instantly tells the readers that she is being emotionally suffocated by her mother. She is being suffocated since she is no longer able to speak about the story of her aunt. The bad company the protagonist hold is believing everything her mother is telling her. If she would have asked the questions to her mother then maybe she will have closure to the story. “My aunt- haunts me- her ghost drawn to me because now, after fifty years of neglect, I alone devote pages of paper to her, though not origamied into houses and clothes” (Kingston 1515). This quote shows she is not able to overcome this obstacle because her aunt still haunts her. This is important to the theme of silence and voice, because the story shows the readers how only so much can be