Sor Juana

In contemporary 21st century thought, sexual liberty is at the forefront of the feminist movement. Women are taking their bodily autonomy back, and ascribing a sense of ownership back to themselves. This movement to gain bodily and sexual liberty, however, are not new concepts. Philosophers and literary greats tackled these issues prior to the 21st century. Both Edith Wharton’s novel The Age of Innocence and Kate Chopin’s short story, At the ‘Cadian Ball and which were written prior to the 21st century and its third wave of feminism. portray women’s sexuality throughout their texts. However, in both novels, the sexuality that is portrayed is confined within boundaries that are prescribed by the men in the story. By writing the female sexuality this way, they are exposing the problematic nature of being able to express a woman’s sexuality, and the lack thereof. Through the focalisation of the narrative as well as plot development of the female characters and their lack of freedom and autonomy in other aspects of their life, the authors make their points clear about women and their freedom, sexual and otherwise.

In this research paper I will focus on Sor Juana’s ability to challenge the patriarchal rule in Colonial Mexico through her the patterns language, and the publishing of her work in order to find out how her writing empowered more women writers. In order to answer my question, I will focus on male authority and will work to analyze how patterns, rhetoric, and overall publication of Sor Juana’s work challenge the power dynamic..The question I want answer is how Sor Juana’s work was able to alter cultural attitudes that did not permit women to pursue education and intellectual exploration. My argument is that through her critical language and the act of producing her poems Sor Juana is able to challenge the oppressive society run by males therefore creating a change in the gender norms of her time. This is based off of research of the history of patriarchy in Colonial Mexico, critical analyses of Sor Juana’s writing, understanding of the impact of her writing, and articles suggesting that Sor Juana was influential in altering culture in Mexico. Particularly, I found it interesting that articles explored her language focusing on the gender role she discusses. In this essay I will explore the restrictive cultural norms that pushed Sor Juana to enter the convent as a way to continue writing and publish her work and then proceed to analyze how her writing reflects her

Julia Alvarez is a contemporary Dominican writer, whose work ranges from poetry, short stories, essays, and novels. Alvarez’s work touches upon issues of migration, history, stereotypes, empowerment of Latin women, and the differing ideology of American and Dominican culture. She provides a strong voice and perspective for Latin women, and teaches other ethnicities in America about Latin culture. She uses a variety of words and phrases in her native language Spanish, as well as Spanglish and English. In 1991, Alvarez published a novel, “How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accent.” The novel captures the struggle of four sisters who leave their home in the Dominican Republic and reside in the U.S. as refugees. Similarly, in 1994, Alvarez published another novel, “In the Time of the Butterflies.” The novel captures the hardships the Mirabel sisters succumb to. The Mirabel sisters found the underground movement in opposition to the dictator Trujillo. In 2000, Alvarez published another novel, “In the Name of Salome.” The novel captures the oppression of an older woman and her daughter. Many of Alvarez’s novels and poems resemble her life and the history of her beloved country, Dominican Republic.

Sor Juana Inés De La Cruz was an extremely radical activist for her time. She was known as the “Tenth Muse”, the “Phoenix of Mexico” (Harss pg.6) in many western parts of the world. As a child she grew up with very limited formal education and envied men who were privileged enough to receive primary education, and access to higher education. Sor Juana was a constant defendant of the rights of women, often coming off as inappropriate in her occupation as a nun, and women in the Spanish Empire, making her a threat to the man who was trying to gain power at the time (I deliberately left out his name due to the fact that I felt it would distract from the main person in this- Sor Juana.) Sor Juana was a diverse writer who often switched styles and genres of writing. However, she is well known for her poems that could, “inspire such tenebrous thoughts in the mind of the 20th-century reader.” (Harss pg.3). The scandalousness of her writings are said to be proof of her insanity, and results from the torturous tasks she would inflict upon herself, which were also encouraged by her confessor at the time in an attempt to, “moderate her zeal” (Harss pg.7).

Sor Juana Ines De La Cruz was a woman far beyond her years. Living in a time when society was dominated by men, she disregarded the fact that women during this time were forced to be uncurious objects, whose highest achievement in life was to give birth. Her relentless pursuit to attain knowledge and defy her culture's standards for women is illustrated throughout her writings. In the readings, ("Response to the Most Illustrious Poetess Sor Filotes de la Cruz, the three "Romances" and the "Redondillas"), she spills out her beliefs, feelings and pain in forms of symbolic devices and irony in attempt to erase the differences between men and women as intellectual beings, as well as to argue for a woman's right to pursue

During my third year of high school I became acutely aware of the world-wide issue regarding Women’s rights. I made an attempt to look over many of the cultural norms that I had previously believed as just being "the natural order of things” and quite normal. One of the many paths I took to further expand my awareness of the female psyche involved women's literature. That is why I spent an entire weekend of my life in bed--sobbing, laughing, feeling sometimes completely confused, and often, incredibly irritable and distraught. On that cold and rainy Friday night I had decided to read "The Women's Room” by Marilyn French.

A common theme that can be seen in feminist literature is that a woman’s identity is defined by the patriarchal culture of the era as well as the men in their lives. This theme can be seen through pieces such as “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, “My Ringless Fingers on the Steering Wheel Tell the Story” by Laura Boss, and “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin.

American Literature has always been about men and for men. In this essay, we are going to analyze the women’s role in the book, as inferior and weaker gender.

Paz’s Account on the Life and Influence of Sor Juana on Spanish Literature Sor Juana, or, the traps of faith by Octavio Paz tells the story by, arguably, Mexico’s leading literary figure in poetry Octavia Paz, who is simultaneously the leading essayist of the nation. Paz’s subject of choice is fascinating because the character of Sor Juana has been lauded as the central figure in the Spanish-American literature and a vital cog towards its development during her time. For Spanish-American literature enthusiasts, Paz has tackled a myriad of elements regarding Sor Juana’s life, such as her entrance into the convent, dedication of her poetry to vicereine, and the impromptu renouncement of the secular letters studies. Paz has divided the book into

In the past there were certain expectations that were to be met by men and women, but as society evolved those expectations were challenged. Where women were once expected to take care of a household and just listen to the man, they were no longer under the controlling hand of men. In Leslie Bell’s “Selections from Hard to Get: Twenty-Something Women and the Paradox of Sexual Freedom”, she talks about how women explored their freedom without the instructions of a man. This relates to Azar Nafisi’s “Selections from Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books” because the women in Nafisi’s reading group are doing what they want by creating a secret reading group without anyone’s approval. Both these stories relate to the destructive atmosphere

‘Submission’ and ‘rebellion’ are two main topics in women’s sufferings in literature that highlights women’ entangled desire which causes her to perform her role in a male dominated society. "The Wide Wide World” by Susan Warner and “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl” by Harriet Jacobs reveals the power relations between men and women, captor and captive, master and slave, are unstable and subject to think. I examine here how these narratives deal with their circumstances from childhood to adulthood. Both of these narratives suffer to survive. They adjust in their exotic foreign place from childhood to adulthood. The main focus of this paper is how each of these texts negotiates issues of power and powerlessness, race, gender, region, and historical moment.

For the central women in the book, their lives are dictated by the rules instilled by harsh governing, and they find themselves lacking the freedom of self expression. “Curiosity, the novels we escaped into led us finally to question and prod our own realities, about which we felt so helplessly speechless” (Azar Nafisi, 39). These brave characters of society internally struggle with having to cloak themselves to hide their sexuality, rather than embracing it.

One of America's most prolific and intellectually challenging contemporary writers, Joyce Carol Oates writes mostly about feminine characters being one of the main representatives of the Second-wave feminism movement. Unlike other authors of her time and challenging the conventions of the 20th century, she deals with the concept of “woman in her inevitable struggle against conventional man” (Hélene Cixous, 1975. Page: 347) in her collection "Where is Here?" by exposing women to similar circumstances in which they are repressed and chastened by men.

7); however, this author recognizes that in academic contexts, at least, there has been a consistent reduction in the ridiculing of feminists texts, but still there are discourses that still have maintaining powerful differences for the feminist reader for whom “everything, everywhere, is almost oppressively subtle, complex and contradictory” (p.44). The politics of women readers has been an uncomfortable issue for those who pretend to maintain power differences. Bollman (2008) could not be more precise to call it Women who read are dangerous. The idea that women's reading could possible subvert disciplinary structures (Long, 2003) is seen as one of the threatens for ideologies of symbolic domination (Bourdieu,

Literature has long held a significant role as a vehicle for social and political commentary. This fact can be attributed to its ability as a cultural medium to educate and entertain. Over the past several decades the social-political movement of feminism has been adopted in many literary works. The concept of Feminism is concerned with the analysis "of social theories, political movements, and moral philosophies, largely motivated by or concerning the experiences of women, especially regarding their social, political, and economic situation." As a social and political movement, feminism’s primary focus is in establishing and securing equal civil, political, economic and social rights for women. The adoption of feminism in literature has led to the examination of many facets of life with an intent to underline the efforts of society to uphold and reinforce the influence of the patriarchy. Feminism in literature is typically conveyed as an expression of discontent towards the attitudes of society regarding the identity and rights of women. This expression of discontent is accomplished through examining and commenting on feminist issues such as gender roles, power structures, exploring feminine identity and sexuality, and the ways women are marginalized in their professional and private lives. Through their treatment of the female perspective both the novels As for Me and My House by Sinclair Ross and Surfacing by Margaret Atwood depict elements of feminism. The use of the