In the Book “The Woman Hollering Creek: and Other Short Stories”, there was a short story called “los Boxers” which can be interpreted in many different ways depending on how you overlook things. ALthough the story can be difficult to understand due to the fact that his in the laundromat jumping from conversation to conversation with other people you can imply that the passing of his wife had an effect one him. Infact,  I will be arguing that “Los Boxers” teaches us the lesson of the importance of valuing someone’s presence and how it can affect us after they’re passing.

The narrator speaks to many different people but the one thing you’re able to analysis that although the wife has passed away, he is still doing things that she used to do for him when she was alive. Going from money, to colors, to temperature, to fabric among many other little details, he was able to pick up all those traits because of his wife. She had an everlasting effect on him, she helped him grow in ways he was unaware he needed. For Example implying the comment, “Oh boy, she was clean. Everything in the house looked new even though it was old” (ciniseros 132) you can see that she was a clean freak, everything in the house was clean, no matter what it was and even though she passed away he learned from it. He learned how to be clean, how to be more organized, more independent. Maybe it wasn’t as good as the wife but it was something he was able to carry on from her. 

Normally when a loved one of yours passes away you grief through different types of stages, but afterwards you learn how to grow. For instance from Psychology today states, “Although the late spouse is physically absent, the widow’s love for him can remain—and even grow. New widows (and widowers) face a range of circumstances in which their decisions are likely to be different.” which helps you realize that even when they’re gone they’re still a part of them in you. That’s why in the short story of “los boxers” the narrator goes along doing things as his wife would do. 

As you have heard many people say the phrase, you never know what you have until it’s gone, which in so many words it means that many people don’t really know the true value of someone till they have left. For instance in “Los Boxers” the narrator didn’t just catch traits of the wife but now he was just lonely. In the story he would go on having different conversations with different women and mostly all the topics involved the wife. So in a sense, now that the wife is gone and he’s all alone he never truly realized what he had, it all came into his head once she was gone. To add on this doesn’t just happen through stories but it also happens in real life. After various research elite daily mentions,  “Clear the clutter inside your mind and realize what you have right now. Don’t wait until you’ve lost it to finally see how much you took it for granted. Don’t wait until you realize that without it, your foundation to make it through each day begins to crumble.” (Fern 6) helps you understand that this is a true thing, we shouldn’t wait to value what we have once its gone because once it does your world can just crumble down in ways you probably can’t even realize. 

In conclusion, losing someone that’s important in our lives can have an impact within ourselves, even if we aren’t able to realize it. Sometimes we carry on certain traits of them, we can become lonely or even both. That’s why it’s important to value what we have, not just in the moment but for as long as we can because once it’s gone there’s no going back. 

Work cited: 

Cisneros, Sandra. “Los Boxers.” Woman Hollering Creek and other stories, Vintage, 1991, pp. 130-132.
Ashley Fern. “The Truth Behind ‘You Don’t Know What You Have Until It’s Gone’”. Elite Daily, 26 June 2013, https://www.elitedaily.com/life/you-dont-know-what-you-have-til-its-gone
Aaron Ben-Zeév Ph.D. “Love After Death: The Widow’s Romantic Predicaments”. Psychology Today, 18 March 2012, https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/in-the-name-love/201203/love-after-death-the-widows-romantic-predicaments