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,

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First published 25 January 2006

Citation: Herrera, Cristina. "Sandra Cisneros". The Literary Encyclopedia. 25 January 2006.
[http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=11678, accessed 20 November 2009.]