I will examine how gender-based violence negatively affects the mental health/overall well-being of Latinx women, and how there is hope healing through the strength of Latinx women. I will support this using the impact of domestic violence on Cleófilas in “Woman Hollering Creek” by Sandra Cisneros and “Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza” by Gloria Anzadua. I want to analyze how each woman reacted to these events, the impact of the violence on their mental health and what they did to move forward in their lives. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Borderlands by Gloria Anzadua shows that there is hope and resilience instilled in Latinx women. Anzaldua writes that in borderlands one can live with all marginalized identities and become something new and powerful. For Latinx women, this can look like being bicultural, queer, or a survivor. Holding all of these identities at once can leave you vulnerable to overlapping systems of oppression, but Anzaldua says we need to change the way we think about it. “A massive uprooting of dualist thinking in individual and collective consciousness is the beginning of a long struggle, but one that could, in our best hopes, bring us to the end of rape, of violence, of war.” By changing the way people think about how identities intersect, we could end violence against women. Living in the borderlands can be a tedious place. Although there may be rejection, pain, and fear in expressing all of your identities, there is also freedom, resistance, and joy. Anzaldúa writes that we can never choose which parts we want to express and which we want to hide. They all exist at the same time and follow you wherever you go. There's power in that, and there's power in being a Latinx woman and a survivor. In “Woman Hollering Creek,” Cleófilas comes to the United States to marry Juan Pedro. Juan Pedro abuses Cleófilas, but because of societal expectations, Cleófilas feels trapped. Survivors can have many different responses to violence, and I will analyze Cleófilas' response. In the article “Literary Representations of Battered Women: Spectacular Domestic Punishments,” Restuccia and Frances wrote about how Cleofilas responds to violence with muteness. Cléófilas “stands silent alongside [the men's] conversation,” waiting, nodding in agreement, smiling politely, and laughing at appropriate moments—becomes part of the narrative of the narrator, who has become, by design, omniscient. The negative effect of Juan Pedro's abuse on Clefilas' well-being is evident. Cleofilas felt like his voice was being taken away from him and felt unable to stand up to this violent man. Restuccia and Frances introduce a concept that applies to many domestic violence survivors called the “love stage.” “She seems to be aware, for example, of what Lenore Walker in The Battered Woman calls “the love stage” (phase three), during which abusers tenderly seek forgiveness. “The love stage” and silence often go hand in hand. Cleofilas still cared for Juan Pedro, even though he was violent towards her. “After each beating, she “silently stroked the dark curls of the man who cried and would cry like a child, his tears of repentance and shame.” In society, even after a man hurts a woman, women are often expected to nurture and love them. It is..