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The narrator’s point of view in “Woman Hollering Creek” is mostly third-person limited. Although the story begins with Don Serafín’s thoughts on Cleófilas’s leaving, the narrator quickly switches to telling the story from Cleófilas’s perspective. From that point, readers see only Cleófilas’s thoughts and feelings. Cleófilas does not tell her own story, suggesting that Cleófilas does not speak for herself. She does not express herself through her own words, she does not vocalize her thoughts, and she is not heard or seen as her authentic self.
Cisneros uses the third-person point of view to great effect when she takes the reader into the doctor’s office with Cleófilas. Readers follow only one side of the phone conversation between Graciela and Felice. They must infer what Felice says. Graciela’s dialogue gives readers their only look at Cleófilas from an outsider’s perspective. Through Graciela’s words, readers learn that Cleófilas does not speak English. With this knowledge, readers can infer that Cleófilas hears what Graciela says but does not understand more than the few words of Spanish she uses.
