Below are the discussion questions we went through in class today and some of the answers we created. We will finish discussing these before your in-class essay tomorrow. These are just for your notes, not to be turned in.
1. What is the distinction between "I was/am the only daughter" and "[I am] only a daughter"?
-“only a daughter” is what her father felt/made her feel about herself growing up. Society as a whole made/makes her feel.
-Possibly named the short story with this title in order to address her father/family.
-To address other “people like her”
-“the only daughter” refers to the fact that she is one of seven children, the other six being boys.
2. What is one positive aspect of Cisneros' childhood "loneliness"?
She had time to do the things that writers do.
-What caused her loneliness, being "the only daughter" or "only a daughter"?
-The former: being the only girl who was ignored.
3. What expectation did her father put on her as only a daughter?
-She get married and have children. That she spend her time focused on those goals, not on a career.
4. Why do you think she chose the word "embroidered" to describe how she writes poems?
-It is a “female” word that she is using in her own way. It plays off of expectations of her as a woman.
5. What is the distinction between "El maestro [teacher]" and "profesora [professor]"? And what does Cisneros say should would prefer above either of those titles?
-A “teacher” is often viewed as a traditionally female profession. She would rather be considered “a writer.”
6. How does Cisneros describe her father as a reader?
-He reads pulp fiction. Doesn’t read for “literary value.” (He reads for plot. She, on the other hand, reads for meaning)
-She wants to write fiction that has a plot and it has meaning.
7. What are some of the reasons she uses so many Spanish words in this piece?
-To show her father’s language/ quotations from her father
-To avoid translation.
8. What is the significance of the fact that her father would translate the Spanish "siete hijos" to the English "seven sons"? What exactly does Cisneros say about how this made her feel?
-The single sibling that is not acknowledged by what her father calls them.
9. Cisneros writes, "Why would anyone go to college and then choose to be poor?" What is the context of this question? Is she really wondering this or is it someone else's question? Did she in a sense "choose to be poor"? What do you think? (journals)
10. How does her father react to her Spanish-translated story that she brings to him? Why do you think this reaction is the most wonderful?
11. Where's an example of where she uses some of the five senses?
12. What is her purpose in writing this piece? What's the main point/message of the piece?
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