He had thrown a book. Hers. From across the room. A hot welt across the cheek."

In this scene of Sandra Cisneros' "Woman Hollering Creek," Juan Pedro hits Cleofilas with her book--a love story--which truly hurts Clefilas' feelings because the book was the closest thing she had to a telenovela. She forgives his beating, which draws attention to his dominion over her, but also how she remains blatantly ignorant of how abusive he has become and how far away she is of having the telenovela life. She still longs to learn of the betrayal and romance that occurs in the telenovelas; however, even when he smacks her with the love story, a symbolic act of getting slapped in the face with fantasy, she still compares herself to the woman in the telenovelas and bemoans how she doesn't have a name of a jewel like the woman in the telenovela. Since she doesn't accept that her life will never be like a telenovela, Juan Pedro, literally and figuratively, gives her "a hot welt across the cheek" with her fantasy and illustrates how he doesn't care about her dreams. Cisneros shows us how woman become deeply brainwashed with the idea of perfect and fun lives. The implementation of these fantasies cause destruction and oppresion, and, sadly, we see this through Cleofilas beatings.

Juan Contreras