Sor Juana's Rhetoric Of Silence Essay

Most people, in this world, have a passion deep down inside of them that lead them to achieve what they put their heart and mind to. Fulfilling that passion is the most satisfying feeling. Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz is a well-known extraordinary figure from the colonial period. She is a great example of persevering to get through many obstacles in her life. Sor Juana developed a desire for education at a very young age and was highly noticeable in all of her literature. In the seventeenth century, it was the intellectual midpoint of Spanish colonial America. During this time Mexico City was politically and religiously the center of New Spain; the terrains went from California to Central America. In Latin American history, the church and state

Unfortunately, her mother strongly rejected her pleading because it was not the social norm for girls or women to receive an education (Bokser 12). Although Sor Juana’s mother declined her permission she did not let it cease her and still continued to study privately. Furthermore, as she grew older, Sor Juana continued to encounter the discrimination because she is a female who aspired for an education. In Sor Juana’s Rhetoric of Silence, Bokser articulates how Sor Juana, as an adult now, realizes the disruptions, risks, and obstacles that continuously occurred in attempts to learn. Bokser states, “Her portrayal of the female intellectual is markedly different from the classical image of the bodiless masculine mind” (12). This implies Sor Juana’s body structure interrupts her from learning. The female mind and a male mind, have dissimilar ways of comprehending. An example Bokser presents is when Sor Juana was an adolescent she stayed away from eating cheese because she heard it caused stupidity and if she failed to learn a lesson in a certain time frame she would cut her hair as a punishment