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Only Daughter

Sandra Cisneros

Summary

This is an autobiographical story of Sandra Cisneros. In this story, she has shared some of her nasty experiences of her childhood. She is the only daughter in her family after 6 brothers. Her father is Mexican and mother is American-Mexican.

As she is a girl/ daughter in the family of six sons, she is not treated well. Her brothers didn't like to play with her because playing with a girl was taken as low/inferior kind of activity. Her father never took her as daughter so her father always told that he had seven sons. Actually he had six sons and a daughter but he never counted his daughter as daughter.

After high school, she joined college. She wanted to further her study and build her career but her father wanted her to go to college to find a boy/husband. For her father college education or going to college is to find a right boy and get married. Her father thought it useless and meaningless to get college education without finding a boy.

As she is heated, neglected and mistreated, she spends most of her time in loneliness. And this very loneliness shaped her later life. Later on she completed her college education, became professor and noted writer/ poet too. She proved that a daughter can also be as successful as a son. And later on she became able to earn respect from her father.

Question and Answer

What does Cisneros mean when she writes that being an only daughter in a family of six sons "explains everything"?

Ans-Cisneros was born in the traditional family of Mexico where like in Nepal, son is given high importance and daughter is taken as burden for the family. This is the reason that Cisneros' father never said that he had six sons and a daughter but he always said he had seven sons. As a daughter, Cisneros is never acknowledged in the family. Even her brothers never played with her because plying with girls was taken as shameful activity. Her father thought her no more than a wife of somebody and when she did not get married after completing college education; her father thought that she wasted her college life. Due to all these, she used to spend her time alone in the room. Her self-isolation in her childhood made her a prolific writer in her later life. T

What distinction does Cisneros make in paragraphs 2 and 3 between being 'the only daughter' and being 'only a daughter'?

Ans- In fact her expression 'the only daughter' and 'only a daughter' tells so many things about herself and her society where she grew up. By 'the only daughter' she mean to say she is the only one daughter in the family of six sons and by 'only a daughter' she mean to say that her family, her society and her culture never recognized a daughter. Like in Nepal and many traditional societies in the world, only sons are given high importance, sons are taken as some

valuable gems but daughters are taken as burden of the family, only the wife of someone else.

To sum up, daughters are two times victim in traditional society- on the e hand she is heated because she is a girl and next being a girl she is not given any opportunity of education, job or earning.

What advantages does Cisneros see in being the only daughter'? In being 'only a daughter?'

Ans-We can't say what would have happened to other girls in the world in being 'the only daughter' and 'only a daughter'. They might not be as famous and lucky as the writer. As 'the only daughter' and 'only a daughter' Cisneros spends most of her time in isolation because she was not allowed to mix up with her brother. The vary isolation turned out to be very fruitful time for her. Her literary career boosted up during this iso ation, loneliness and aloneness. Whoever she is today and whatever she is today is only because of her isolation in her childhood. She was isolated for 'the only daughter' and 'only a daughter'.

Why does her father think she has wasted he education? What is her reaction to his opinion?

Ans- Her father allowed her(Cisneros) to go to college. Her father was thinking something different while he let her daughter go college but the writer has something else. For her father a girl going college means she will find a nice husband. For her going college means getting education. So when Cisneros remained unmarried even after she finished her college her father told her that she wasted her college education.

Why is her father's reaction to her story the "most wonderful" thing that happened to Cisneros that year?

Ans-At Christmas Cisneros returned home. By this time she has become very famous writer, and has won server prestigious prizes as well. Her stories were translated into Spanish language as well. So at home, she gave her story to her father to read. Her father read her story thoroughly and at the end asked "Where can we get more copies of this for the relatives?" This statement is her father's acknowledgement of her daughter Cisneros as writer. This statement from her father is the "most wonderful" thing that happened to Cisneros that year.

Key Points to Remember 

This is a narrative story of Sandra Cisneros herself. She is the daughter of Mexican- American mother and a Mexican father. She is the only girl child in her family of 7 children. She has six brothers.She says she is the only daughter and only a daughter. Being a daughter in the family and being only one daughter (girl child) in the family, she is never acknowledged or in other words she is not given respect, she is not even counted as a daughter. Her father never said that he has six sons and a daughter. He always said "I have seven sons". Her brothers too never played with her because playing with girl was shameful activity during that time. When she is not acknowledged, when she is not allowed to mix up with her brothers, she spent most of her time in loneliness. But this loneliness was preparing her as famous writer of future. Her father allowed her to join college thinking that she would find a suitable boy to marry but when she didn't get married after college her father thought that her college education was waste. For her father girls mean only the wife of somebody else. She became famous writer/poet of USA.Many of her writings were translated into Spanish and when her father read one of her Spanish translated story, he wanted more copies for his relative which was the most wonder thing for the writer.