ONLY DAUGHTER
By Sandra Cisneros
(Proverbs)
1. “A house full of daughters is like a cellar full of sour beer”. Dutch proverb 2. “Daughters pay no debt”. – Scottish proverb
3.
"A stupid son is better than a
crafty daughter." – Chinese proverb
4.
"A virtuous son is the sun of
his family." – Sanskrit proverb.
5.
The setting of this narrative essay
is Mexico / South American countries and Spain.
6. This essay is written in
autobiographical form.
7. In this essay the writer tries to show
the status of woman how they are ignored in South American countries/Mexican
countries and Spanish countries.
Summary:
Sandra
Cisneros was born into a working family in 1954. She is the daughter of the
Mexican-American mother and a Mexican father. She spent much of her childhood
in Chicago and a Mexico City. This short narrative essay originally appeared in
Glamour magazine in 1990. She tells her own experience in this autobiographical
essay. Being only a daughter among the six sons she always has to struggle a
lot to make her own identity.
Her father would
always tell everyone that he was the father of seven sons “He has seven sons”.
But she whispers on her father’s ear that she is the daughter not a son. And he
has only six sons. In a family none of her brothers would play with her. Her
father was happy with the academic achievement of his sons. He would praise his
sons for being doctors.
Her father was
disappointed when his daughter graduated from Loyola University in
creative writing as a major English student. Her marriage was a bigger concern
for her father than her education. He used to think graduation without a
husband ruins her life. He never gave time for her daughter’s education. He
ignored her whole life.
After the
completion of her study she started writing and published in the journal and
newspaper. Her writing was praising her father. Once, she wrote a book,
published in Spanish language and requested her father to read it. After
reading he asked his daughter where he could buy this book for his relatives.
That time she thought she made her father proud.
Here, she wants to
trace the development of her identity as an adult, as a female, as a writer.
She doesn’t like to be treated as a part of the sons. Her father simply wants
her to get an identity of being someone’s wife.
Therefore, in this
narrative, Cisnero’s main opinion is that the daughters are not only to get a
husband and be married. She believes that a daughter can do better than a son.
She has her own freedom and identity in society. She wants to be “only
daughter” who did much more.
In this essay,
Cisneros describe the difficulties of growing up as the only daughter in a
Mexican-American family of six sons.
Historically, sons
have been valued over daughters in most cultures. As reflected in the following
proverb:
Cisneros wants to highlight the plot/thesis in the following way:
Although
it is quite hard to get independent identity in patriarchal society for woman
they can achieve their rights through hard work, struggle, labor, dedication
etc.
1.
Daughters have their own identity.
2. Daughters are not born to become
only wives, housewives, child bearing rearing and caring machine etc.
3.
The traditional discrimination
between sons and daughter is wrong.
4.
Including daughter in the list of
sons is ignoring her gender.
Some of the important questions:
1.
What is Cisneros's thesis? What
incidents and details support this thesis?
2.
Why does her father think she has
wasted her education? What is her reaction to his opinion?
3. Do you think Cisneros intends to convey a sympathetic or unsympathetic impression of her father? Explain.
4.
What is a narrative essay? Is 'Only
Daughter 'by Cisneros a narrative essay? How?
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