Only Daughter





Summary :

The story "Only Daughter" by Sandra Cisneros is about being the only daughter out of seven children. The author tells us how she sometimes felt left out because her father would always tell everyone he was the father of seven sons, not because he had seven sons but because that's how it would sound like in Spanish. She also felt left out because none of her six brothers would play with her because they didn't want to be seen playing with a girl. As they grew up all seven of them went to college and had impressive careers. The author's father would praise his sons for being doctors but was disappointed when his daughter graduated from college without a husband. The author's father was glad she had received an education but always expected her to be married and have her own family. To know her father's expectations of her the author was glad that her father never gave her a hard time about her decision to major in English, even though she would have liked for him to ask her what she was writing every once in a while. The author wanted to make her father proud of her. She made him proud by one day sharing a book that she had written and it made her happy when he asked where he could get a copy of her book for the relatives.


I enjoyed this text because I know what it is like to grow up with a large family. The author was the only daughter out of seven children and she felt alone a lot of the time. I am the oldest child out of four girls and I also spent time alone because two of my sisters are closer to each other, the youngest one is seven years younger than I am and my stepbrother is constantly on his cell phone talking to a bunch of girls. My parents don't question me about my major, they only want me to be happy with the career I am pursuing and to one day have my own family. 
Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYYuRn12hbU

Questions for "Only Daughter"

1. What does Cisneros mean when she writes that being an only daughter in a family of six sons "explain everything" (1)?

What she means on that particular line is that being an only daughter, she wasn't given as much attention as with the other six children around, much fewer sons.

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

She makes a distinction by considering them very similar to each other. The only daughter means that she was different from all the other siblings, but being only a daughter made her considerably less important.

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

While she's the only daughter, she was secluded from the other siblings, making it a good environment for a writer. Being only a daughter, it meant that her destiny would be to meet a husband someday, to be someone's wife.

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

Her father figured she went to college to find a husband, but since she came back home without one, he was disappointed. She thinks that she's lucky for having a father who believed daughters were meant for husbands.

5. Why was her father's reaction to her story the most wonderful thing that happened to Cisneros that year?

Because out of good things that happened that year, nothing could compare to the pride and goodness he felt for his daughters' accomplishments.

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