CRJ #9

1) In the reading, “Only Daughter” by Sandra Cisneros (#60), it gives an account of the author’s life, family situation, education, and career. Cisneros shares with us that she is an only daughter in a Mexican family. In her family, her dad actually believed that going to college was a good thing for her to do to get an education, but more importantly, to find a husband. When Cisneros finished her 6 years of college, she came away with an English major, but no husband, and to her father, it was as if she had wasted those 6 years. From then on, every book she wrote, article she published, and every class she taught she did to try and make her father proud of her. She didn’t want to be just another one of the “siete hijos” in which her father called his children to others. (This translated to seven sons). This reading not only showed how women are still looked at as being a home maker and that is it, but it also shares how having sons is more valued than daughters. Since men hold more power than women, fathers are always proud to have boys because they will grow up to be smart, have a family, and carry on the family name. They are the ones that carry the “power” down to generations to come.


2) In the reading, “The Myth of a Perfect Mother” by Judith Warner (#55), Warner gives a personal account of her life as a mom. She describes how as her daughter grew up she wanted (and was) the perfect mother to her; getting up early for feeding, giving praise, doing crafts, and the list goes on. She started to not be able to function at work as well because of her late nights and busy schedule, but that didn’t matter because she was the best mom ever. She finally realized that many other women today were going through the exact same thing. They were becoming obsessed with being the ideal mom and were not as concerned about how their own lives went. I believe that this account of her life and her talking to many other moms about the exact same thing happening to them, is kind of a wake up call to all women who want to pursue a life with a career, family, and being a mother. We have to learn to prioritize and make sure to not only be a good mother, but also know that we still have to make a good life for ourselves and not diminish our pride by becoming the “mom,” which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, we just have to make sure and keep our individual identities as well.


3) In the reading, “Marriage and Love” b y Emma Goldman (#53), marriage and love are described as being antagonistic. Goldman believes and writes about how love is possible in marriage, but marriage is just an economic bond that is society driven. It is what is expected to do if you do fall in love, when in reality, many people “in love” who get married just seem to “fall out of love” or grow farther apart when they do get married. Then she says that the ones who get married before falling in love do not ever actually fall in love, but rather get comfortable with the person enough to live with them. They get in a routine. I believe this reading to be very true. I do believe that marriage many times does make love harder due to the new economic dependencies and stressful situations that marriage entales, including things such as new bills, the power struggle between the husband and wife, the sexual side of marriage, and the children issue. All these things are what drive many marriages to divorce and though today, the divorce rate is as high as ever, I still believe that there are still marriages that do still include love and passion, as rare as it is to find it, I believe it is still out there.