Not only that, but her mother’s advice also plays a role in how she views Mexican and American culture. Her grandparents also played a role in shaping Clemencia’s outlook on culture, as their views on relationships are based on classism and a disdain for multicultural people. Clemencia describes in the beginning how this is seen in how the men she sleeps with and the women she takes pleasure in hurting are white women. However, it does not stop there; she even laughs at Drew’s wife when she calls him, and she answers before passing the phone to him. She says, “No Mexican woman would react like that.” This comment cements that her twisted views on cultural identity are the driving force behind her affairs and her thirst for power.

However, beneath this veneer that she displays of control and independence, Clemencia is a deeply troubled woman whose outlook on life, love, culture, and identity has been twisted by her upbringing and family. What finally challenges her views on life is her acknowledgment of her loneliness and how unloved she feels. She is consumed by the pain of knowing that Drew will not love her as he loves his wife. She does not know what it feels like to be loved in that way, and she likely never will.

That said, Clemencia is not a sympathetic character, nor is she a relatable character. Just because a person’s behavior can be explained does not mean it can be excused. Clemencia admits that she enjoys metaphorically killing women by destroying their marriages and will even go so far as to seduce and manipulate the son of the man she is sleeping with to fulfill her desire for control. This leaves no room for sympathy, but it makes her a complex character with multiple layers that make the story interesting.

Although her mom would be the closest role model, this deviancy is likely set by the men in her family as women do not have the same authority or even space in the patriarchy. This narrator lives her life in a liminal space of lack. Being without a man is an option that is fairly new in terms of acceptability, but being this level of promiscuous and the details surrounding her relationship with Drew are simply abhorrent. 

It’s an uphill battle that the narrator is fighting, the approval of the white man, not because she loves him, even though she may, but because of the lesson central to this passage: to never marry a Mexican. 

The story “Never Marry a Mexican” is about a woman who was told by her mother to never marry a mexican. She herself is Mexican, yet clearly regrets marrying a Mexican man. This story deals with identity in this changing world by highlighting how people can change their mindsets once they have experienced something. Clemencia has this fixation with sleeping with married men. This is seen as an act of rebellion and a form of lashing out. The world would view these acts as immoral and wrong. Hopefully, majority of society would agree that cheating is wrong. With the story “Woman Hollering Creek” there is one instance that could be considered immoral. The main character, Cleófilas, is in an abuse relationship and finally gains the courage to leave. While I do not think this specific act is immoral, the act of taking children away from their father could be considered immoral. In this case though, I believe she did the right thing in protecting herself and her children from any further abuse.