The identity of Cleofilas and Miss Sasagawara are vastly influenced by perceptions of the culture in which they live as well as by the legends of their pasts. The characters mixed together real and perceived experiences and therefore, had to struggle while coping with situations of everyday life and to finally discover their personal identities.
             In "Woman Hollering Creek", "Cleofilas finds Felice is like no woman she has ever met. " (65) Felice is strong, independent and expresses herself freely, totally unlike Cleofilas's life. Cleofilas has been waiting for a passion in her life, the kind like in books, songs and TV. She idolizes her favorite TV and book heroines by trying to duplicate their hair styles, hair colors, and wear their dress styles. Cleofilas feels that her marriage is going to imitate her favorite TV shows and books. Her new town Sequin has a nice sound to it and she can only imagine the riches that she and Juan Pedro will find there, but she finds out that it is a town of gossip, dust, and despair just like the town she grew up in. The name Woman Hollering, fascinated Cleofilas, but she never understood it until she met the fiercely independent Felice, and she was finally able to escape the pain, anguish, and despair that a battered woman feels. Cleofila finally finds the passion she is looking for in Felice's free spirit, not being the submissive Hispanic woman , but just enjoying being a woman and voicing it.
             In the "Legend of Miss Sasagawara", Mari Sasagawara was looked up to and idolized by other members of her evacuation camp. She was beautiful well dressed, and a world traveled ballet dancer, which caused Kiku and Elsie to be jealous of her scintillating life style. Almost all of the all of the information about Miss Sasagawara was hearsay, so she was somewhat of a legend because nobody knew her history. Kiku and Elsie had always known who they were...