ipl-logo

Sandra Cisnero Only Daughter Analysis

802 Words4 Pages

Throughout the ages, gender has been socially constructed in some way or another. Gender conditioning begins once the parents are aware of the sexual gender of the child. Society has spoken: Pink pacifiers for the girls, blue pacifiers for the boys. The expectations begin. This list of expectations is also very much dependent upon the influence of cultural conditioning and ethnic identity as evident in Sandra Cisnero's Only Daughter. The protagonist is a Latino woman in search of validation. While Cisnero uses imagery to paint a picture of a young girl who is gentle, obedient and subdued, it is also evident she possesses an inner strength equivalent to that of a salmon swimming upstream. In addition to imagery, Cisnero uses the power of the first person point of view and tone to convince …show more content…

Her passion is real and strongly felt in the following passage. "He didn't mean anything by the mistranslation, I’m sure. But somehow I could feel myself being erased." ( ) The reader clearly feels the anguish of her experience.

It is important to note that this story has so many different levels, each of which intertwines with the other, giving a better understanding of the cultural identity of the main character. Firstly, she is (obviously) a girl who is born into an ethnically mixed family. “I am the only daughter of a Mexican father and a Mexican-American mother." ( ) She had six siblings, all brothers. Her family also vacillated between living in the states and spending time in Mexico. One would need to study the culture of Mexicans to understand better why Cisnero's protagonist was submissive and quiet and respectful in the home of her father. Still, Cisnero uses conversational language and vivid images to breathe life into the home of the family in the story. "Being an only daughter in a family of six sons forced me by circumstance to spend a lot of time by myself because my brothers felt it beneath them

Show More
Related
168 Words | 1 Pages

Both Okita's and Cisneros's stories talk about the American identity and how it is much more complex than just your physical appearance or your family's heritage. Okita's poem talks about how she identifies much more with the American culture than her Japanese heritage, and it focuses on a conflict with an American girl that she has grown up with in school. Okita's classroom friend, Denise, becomes hostile and rude towards her after the passing of the executive order that targets Japanese American people. Okita writes her letter to clarify that she may be Japanese-American, but she is not the enemy and she is just like Denise. Cisneros's story focuses on how different she feels from her Mexican culture, comparing and contrasting her

Read More
1176 Words | 5 Pages

Influenced by her father’s involvement in a Dominican rebel group, Julia Alvarez drew from her vivid imagination and

Read More
1149 Words | 5 Pages

Situated near the U.S.-Mexico border during the early twentieth century is the fictional setting of Fort Jones, the outskirts of which is where Americo Paredes’ short story “Macaria’s Daughter” takes place. Emblematic of the disappropriation of Mexican land, as well as the increased marginalization of the Mexican people, the overbearing presence of Fort Jones reveals the struggle for preservation that characterizes the Mexican-American community of the story. “Macaria’s Daughter” is the tragic account of what happens in a small community when the upholding of Mexican values and institutions, and opposition to Anglo-American culture, become more important than a young woman’s life. In this essay, I will argue that “Macaria’s Daughter” is a text

Read More
674 Words | 3 Pages

“The emotional, sexual, and psychological stereotyping of females begins when the doctor says ‘it’s a girl’.” - Shirley Chisholm, a late 1970’s educator, author and the first black woman elected to the United States Congress. Chisholm and other women for generations have been victims of male projected and specified stereotypes. Due to the impact of the male opinion on women in society, the female characters in both novels suffer from emotional, physical and psychological stereotypes. Steven Galloway, a critically acclaimed male author, is responsible for the literary work titled “The Cellist Of Sarajevo”.

Read More
143 Words | 1 Pages

“Never Marry a Mexican” is both the title of Sandra Cisneros’ short story published in the collection Woman Hollering Creek, and one of the most ironic as well as provocative statements present in the Chicana literature. The story itself is a critical as well as self-reflexive exercise in understanding concepts such as gender, race and ethnicity. Working with the presumption that the affiliation to distinct gender as well as racial and ethnic background is determined by the certain level of performativity, Cisneros illustrates difficulties in performing a double role , frequently faced by the second and the third generation of Mexican immigrants in the United States. Following paragraphs will consider Cisneros’ story with Judith Butler’s concept

Read More
532 Words | 3 Pages

In 2011, Peggy Orenstein published Cinderella Ate My Daughter to examine how princess culture impacted girlhood. “What Makes Girls Girls?” is a chapter in this book that delves into the implications of sexual difference and whether or not it is rooted in biology. By studying various research projects conducted by professionals, Orenstein discovers that, ultimately, a child’s environment plays a key role in behavior. To pose the question of whether the concept of gender is inherent, Orenstein references several examples that have sparked a considerable amount of discussion about how a child’s gender expression is molded by upbringing.

Read More
645 Words | 3 Pages

Life Goals In the essay “The Storyteller”, Sandra Cisneros describes how her identity was shaped by goals that she had for herself. Starting from a young Cisneros dreamt about living in her own silent home that fitted her taste. Years later after coming home from college she still had the dream of living on her own and also with a career goal of becoming a writer. Cisneros determination to follow her dreams was strong, however, her father’s did not agree with the dreams and even had a different idea of what he wanted for her.

Read More
938 Words | 4 Pages

The immigrants entering the United States throughout its history have always had a profound effect on American culture. However, the identity of immigrant groups has been fundamentally challenged and shaped as they attempt to integrate into U.S. society. The influx of Mexicans into the United States has become a controversial political issue that necessitates a comprehensive understanding of their cultural themes and sense of identity. The film Mi Familia (or My Family) covers the journey and experiences of one Mexican-American (or “Chicano”) family from Mexico as they start a new life in the United States. Throughout the course of the film, the same essential conflicts and themes that epitomize Chicano identity in other works of literature

Read More
985 Words | 4 Pages

Why is it difficult for many Latino families to accept homosexuality and the roles of women? Homosexuality could be seen as a wrong doing to many and a normal doing to others but why do many people believe that homosexuality is unethical? Are there reasons as to why it makes it an unethical behavior? In the documentary Tal Como Somos, it examines the lives of six Latino GBT (Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender) men and women. Which focuses on their relationships with their family, culture, religion, and professional lives.

Read More
899 Words | 4 Pages

The Story of the Vargas Family “Rosa Vargas’ kids are too many and too much. It’s not her fault, you know, except she is their mother and only one against so many” (Cisneros 29). In the novel The House on Mango Street, the author, Sandra Cisneros, touches on the many negative consequences of a single, impoverished mother raising an overwhelming amount of children. Poverty, discrimination, parental and neighborly responsibility, and respect are all issues and social forces that act upon the family; their presence or lack thereof cause several grisly occurrences to take place. Poverty was almost like a curse given to Rosa Vargas by her husband, who “left without even leaving a dollar for bologna or a note explaining how come” (29).

Read More
534 Words | 3 Pages

The author employs a distinctive narrative style, using fragmented sentences and unconventional punctuation, to mirror the protagonist's struggle to establish her own identity within a dominant culture. The repetition of the phrase "I am an American" throughout the story reinforces the internal conflict experienced by the protagonist, torn between her Mexican heritage and the pressure to conform to societal expectations. Cisneros's use of stream-of-consciousness writing allows readers to intimately experience the character's emotions and underscores the theme of injustice as it relates to the suppression of one's cultural

Read More
906 Words | 4 Pages

The Mexican siblings are caught between their culture and that of America. Also, the Japanese girl is split between her culture and that of the US. The people from the two foreign cultures seem to identify with the American

Read More
750 Words | 3 Pages

Samuel Huntington’s article The Hispanic Challenge argues that Hispanics, specifically Mexicans, are not true American citizens. According to Huntington, Americans are people who believe in the American creed. However, he believes this creed is being threatened. For some time now, large influxes of Hispanic immigrants have been coming to the US and have brought their own culture with them. The writer of Speaking in Tongues, Gloria Anzaldua, believes that Hispanics have the right to hold onto their culture in America.

Read More
1414 Words | 6 Pages

Through Antonio and Ultima, readers identify the creation of a culture that has been forge by war, discrimination, and common hardships. With Ultima being a powerful curandera, the story shows the importance of the female character within Mexican culture. Today, this is prevalent in many Mexican-American households, as the elderly women are held in the highest respect. Another aspect of Mexican-American Culture is masculinity, which is shown in Bless Me, Ultima when Antonio’s father says, “a man of the llano does not run from a fight” (Anaya, 1999, p.37). There are countless examples of Mexican-American masculinity in this novel, like when it mentions that Gabriel’s two eldest sons are fighting in WWII.

Read More
896 Words | 4 Pages

In “Only Daughter” by Sandra Cisneros, she describes a series of events throughout her life that all relate to her relationship with her father. Cisneros begins her story by talking about how she was seen as “only a daughter”. She then transitions to talking about her education and her father’s opinion on what it is for and worth. Cisneros then ends it with a conclusion between her and her father which involved one of her stories. Throughout the story, Cisneros talks about what she believed her father thought about her and her career choices, and they turn out to be a bit different than what she thought.

Read More

More about Sandra Cisnero Only Daughter Analysis

Related Topics

Open Document