Ann Petry’s Like a Winding Sheet, Sandra Cisneros’ Woman Hollering Creek and Leslie Silko’s Ceremony

7 Pages 1831 Words

Sorrows of the otherness
in Ann Petry’s Like a Winding Sheet, Sandra Cisneros’ Woman Hollering Creek and Leslie Silko’s Ceremony
The United States of America is a nation of democracy. Yet, it has not always been a place of freedom and opportunity. The people who do not fit into the mainstream are forced to live in multiple worlds separated by cultural values or language barriers. This world of the majority tears them away from their own native worlds. This separation is very well shown in Ann Petry’s Like a Winding Sheet, Sandra Cisneros’ Woman Hollering Creek and Leslie Silko’s Ceremony. Although the authors are of different origin, their characters have something in common – they all suffer from their isolation.

In Ann Petry’s short story Like a Winding Sheet, Johnson is a black male struggling with racism and societal pressures. Johnson faces many challenges throughout the whole story. The reader can feel his anger, frustration and tenseness.
One of the first points to mention is the relationship between Johnson and his wife Mae. Although this appears from the outward appearance to be a normal relationship it is hard to ignore the inward emotions that Johnson has been keeping, such as the envious feelings he has toward Mae’s ability to be energetic and refreshed after having worked all night.
A second point is to mention the fact that it is early in the 20th century and jobs are particularly hard to find, especially for a black man with no special trade. With this in mind it would seem that Johnson would be thankful to have secured employment anywhere in town instead of grumbling and complaining about the pain in his legs.
Thirdly, in relation to the other points, racism seems to be still alive within this time period. "I'm sick of you niggers" (Petry, 119) is a statement directed towards Johnson by his boss, which is definitely, in today’s standards considered a racial statement. This along with the f...