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Cisneros foreshadows Cleófilas’s unhappy marriage. The story’s first paragraph states that Don Serafín gave Juan Pedro his permission to marry Cleófilas, yet he also foresees the morning when she will dream of returning home. When she looks back on the day she left her family, she notes that the love between a man and woman sometimes sours. Don Serafín’s words, however, suggest not just despair, but hope as well. He says that he will never abandon Cleófilas, and when her marriage does sour, she returns home to her family.
Cisneros also foreshadows Cleófilas’s fate through Cleófilas’s favorite telenovela, Tu o Nadie, “You or No One.” The heroine of the program sings “You or No One” at the beginning and end of the show. At the beginning of the story, Cleófilas has Juan Pedro, and at the end she has no one.
Another instance of foreshadowing happens when Cleófilas and Juan Pedro first cross over Woman Hollering Creek. The creek symbolizes female suffering. Naïve Cleófilas cannot understand how a pretty creek could have such an odd name. She wonders if the woman hollers from pain or anger. After crossing the creek, Cleófilas’s life becomes one of pain and anger. She learns that something that looks pretty can also be cruel.
