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), Lori Oxford (Western Carolina University)

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

Cisneros' Works

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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.

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1168 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 24 November 2024.]