Sandra Cisneros

Cristina Herrera (Claremont Graduate University)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.7: Chicano/Latino Writing and Culture of the United States.
Vol. editors: Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), Nuala Finnegan (University College Cork), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University), Regina Mills (University of Michigan)

Dates

Born 20 Dec 1954
Activity 1980-ongoing

Places

Born in United States
Active in Mexico; United States

Cultural Identities

Chicano/a American

Activities

Primary

Novelist

Resources

Sandra Cisneros’s statement, “I am the only daughter in a family of six sons. That explains everything” (“Only Daughter” 119) sums up a prominent theme found in her fiction: women’s marginalization in a culture that places more value on men’s accomplishments. Cisneros clarifies her role within the family by adding that she is “the only daughter in a Mexican family of six sons,” and she believes her role as “the only daughter of a Mexican father and a Mexican-American mother or [...] the only daughter of a working-class family of nine [...] had everything to do with who I am today” (“Only Daughter” 119). This female struggle to define oneself amidst gender, ethnic, and economic limitations is brought to life in much of Cisneros’s work, particularly her fiction.

Born on December 20, 1954 in Chicago...

Please log in to consult the article in its entirety. If you are a member (student of staff) of a subscribing institution (see List), you should be able to access the LE on campus directly (without the need to log in), and off-campus either via the institutional log in we offer, or via your institution's remote access facilities, or by creating a personal user account with your institutional email address. If you are not a member of a subscribing institution, you will need to purchase a personal subscription. For more information on how to subscribe as an individual user, please see under Individual Subcriptions.

1169 words

Citation: Herrera, Cristina. "Sandra Cisneros". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 25 January 2006 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=11678, accessed 09 June 2026.]