We all have busy lives and we are always caught up in our daily tasks which leaves no time to think about what we want and how we can really be happy. In the short story “There Was a Man There Was a Women” Sandra Cisneros brings two very similar characters to life. A Man and a Woman who both living very similar lives even though they do not know each other they go to the same bar to drink on the day that they get paid but they get paid on different days. The author writes the story as a Parable presenting portraits without explaining the meanings readers should see in the relationship of the two characters.
The types of events happening in this story are very similar to things in real life. While a lot of individuals who are single are complaining about not being in a relationship and how they want a change, most lack the ability to make a progression towards the change they are trying to make. Especially if they follow a routine and never have time for new things or for meeting new people. It feels safe and secure, something concrete and controllable in a sea of shifting goals and unforeseen catastrophes. It becomes their rhythm of life. Anything that breaks that routine is a danger to their sense of the world and the way they act. They have their schedule and stick to it meticulously (Spayde). The man and the woman went to the Spot Bar to drink on different days and they laughed with their friends while they drank. What I understand from this is that the man and the woman drank each pay day because they were trying to get away from their everyday routines and to have a good time. There is clearly something both the man and the woman are trying to express. Perhaps a feeling of loneliness or fear of change. For some people, the challenge of altering their routines brings fear of what may happen, or anxiety about how they will respond (Spayde). It seems that some people drink to make it easier to talk to people because they have social anxiety or they are really shy.
In the story, the man and the woman drank with their friends and believed if they continued to drink that the words would slip out more readily, but usually they both simply drank and said nothing (Cisneros 133). Both characters are experiencing the same things so they share a type of connection, which leads the reader to think that there is hope. The connection may lead to many opportunities dealing with social anxiety. It is very difficult dealing with social anxiety but they think the answer is to drink.
The parable “There Was a Man, There Was a Woman” presents portraits without explaining the meanings readers should see in the attitudes of the two characters. The man and the woman both go home after drinking a couple glasses depressed and lonely because they can not get what they need to say to come out. When they get home they stare at the same moon and wonder how many have died and worshiped the same blue light they look at every night. We all can make our own decisions and sometimes we just do things to fit in and we think that is the answer. But in the end we still have an emptiness to fill that drinking or drugs can not fill. It is always better to seek for help. Like counselors or even talking things out with someone can help.
At the end the woman raises her pale eyes towards the moon and cries while the man looks and swallows. The moon is a symbol of hope at the end, it seems like they both are looking up in sadness and despair in search for an answer. As suggests, the moon acts as a unifying force in this moment, though it also emphasizes the unlucky rift separating this man and woman from coming together. And while their story is sad and lonely, it’s also hopeful, since neither one of them would ever even suspect that the other is out there feeling the same exact thing in the same exact scenario. By allowing readers to see how these two characters are unknowingly connected, Cisneros suggests that nobody is ever as alone as he or she might think (Lannamann).
There is also a look in Diversity in the story. Cisneros is trying to explain that no matter our gender a man or a woman we all experience similar things. We are not alone. Although the man and the woman both handle their situation differently, at the end of the day they are going through the same thing. There is always someone out there that understand what we are going through. It is not just you. All you have to do is look for each other in search for help. Together we can overcome our fears.
Consequently, the characters of Cisneros’s story feel trapped in the routine and rely to drinking to feel happy or try to express themselves. If the man and the women would have gone out of their routine and did something different at least one day, their whole life would change drastically and maybe meet each other and find that they had a lot in common. The author is trying to convince the reader that what we do makes us the way we are and if just one thing changed in our routine, it would get us closer to who we are are trying to be in life. Overall it is a story of depression social anxiety and problems that most people deal with on a daily, maybe not the same way they do but in one way or another everyone deals with some sort of depression and anxiety when they are around people not knowing if they will one day come out of there shell and become social and happy.
Cisneros, Sandra. Woman Hollering Creek and other stories. London: Bloomsbury, 2004. Print. To quote the story.
Lannamann, Taylor. “Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories There Was a Man, There Was a Woman.” LitCharts. LitCharts LLC, 25 Jan 2018. Web. 18 May 2019.
Spade, Jon. “Stuck in a Rut”. Experience Life Magazine. (Stress Relief). April 2010. https://experiencelife.com/article/stuck-in-a-rut/