Julia Alvarez's Argumentative Essay

266 Words2 Pages
Alvarez uses Minerva’s demand that her father earn her respect to show how she created her own inner strength and power in order to challenge her gender role. The discovery that Minerva’s father has another family and has kept it a secret leads Minerva to feel betrayed. In response to his excuses she says, “’I don’t owe you a thing,’ I said. My voice was as sure and commanding as his. ‘You’ve lost my respect’” (Alvarez 89). Minerva needs people to earn her respect; she is not going to hand it out to anyone. She has morals and her father has broken them, so he doesn’t deserve her respect – as a male he thinks he has the authority to do this, but she knows better. Minerva challenges the female portrayal by not blindly listening and following