Sor Juana
Throughout history, women have been forced into a subservient role, forced to abandon their own self-interest for the interest of men. Confined to the private sector of social life, women have had two choices, to follow the path of marriage or the path of serving their god. They have been forbidden to seek knowledge beyond that of the household and of religion. In I, the Worst of All, the protagonist, Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, chose to serve God and defy social norms by continuing her search for knowledge. This renowned literary figure, whose thinking and ideals mirrored that of the Enlightenment, encouraged young girls and women, to develop their minds, for, as she said in the movie, "Intelligence has no sex. Keep your eyes open and your ears also, so you can perceive everything." This thinking persuaded females to move outside the private sector and into the public sector destroying the boundary that segregated women from men. I, the Worst of All, Sor Juana's life, and the lives of Latin American women, reveal society's attitudes toward women, the social roles they were expected to conform to, and the choices for elite women, while at the same time, illustrating the circumstances and changes th
If Indian women resisted the sexual desires of Spanish men, they "were whipped, raped, physically abused, tortured, and killed" (Socolow 38). Sor Juana lived towards the end of the Counter-Reformation, the Catholic's response to the Protestant Reformation. For instance, in some lands, the wife of a governor occasionally ruled her husband's domain if he was absent (Socolow 85). Unfortunately, this seeking of knowledge subjected her to the Inquisition. These women would join together "to support orphanages, schools for needy girls, women's shelters, and women's hospitals (Socolow 89). Spanish colonial elite women were forced into the private sector of society given only two opportunities-to marry or to serve God. In pre-Columbian times, "a wife's duties centered around her productive tasks within the household (including cleaning and fulfilling household religious rituals)" (Socolow 22). In I, the Worst of All, the convent epitomizes this code, as nuns, including Sor Juana are continually seen peering through the iron bars in the convent. As women got older, their roles began to change. This honor was brought through "the Hispanic social code [which] called for women to be pure and sexually beyond reproach, publicly discrete, and timid in their behavior" (Socolow 78). Once old enough, these women would marry because is further "sheltered them and kept them from dishonorable pursuits" (Socolow 61). The ideal of this "Counter-Reformation society was to keep women under control through enclosure. In order to understand the life choices for elite women, one must first take into account the patriarchal and religious hierarchy which dominated women in Colonial Latin America. In educational institutions for girls, they learned how to embroider, sew, cook, and other female oriented tasks (Mills 213). Though it may seem that women in Spanish colonial times served little purpose but to serve the man's wishes, a closer look reveals the importance of these women.
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Acceptance Essays
