La Virgen de Guadalupe Symbol Analysis

La Virgen de Guadalupe, otherwise known as the Virgin Mary, appears in many of the stories in Woman Hollering Creek. These appearances are often brief and secondary to the story’s action, but because the image of the Virgin is fraught with cultural significance, these moments function rather symbolically. Indeed, Woman Hollering Creek is a book that grapples with femininity and power, two things the Virgin Mary embodies because of the vital role she played in nearly every religion still practiced today. Having given birth to Jesus via immaculate conception, she is the epitome of single-motherhood and womanly independence. For young women like the girl who cut her hair in “Little Miracles, Kept Promises,” Mary represents a woman who has managed on her own—a significant thing, considering that this girl has recently been under the impression that she was pregnant. The Virgin, then, is a role model of sorts for independent women facing hardships, and her presence throughout the collection is a constant reminder of Cisneros’s focus on how women can still triumph even in trying times.