Reading Notes W2: Philosophical Satire, Part B

Philosophical Satire

 Poem 92 (p. 263-264)

  • Sor Juana makes it clear that a women's role in this world is difficult
  • "You foolish and unreasoning men // who cast all blame on women" (263 lines 1 & 2)
- The first lines in this poem are a defense of women and are basically accusing men for blaming women for their own faults they have caused.


  • Relationships between men and women are problematic
  • Love is an conflicting emotion - angry/bitter disagreement over fundamental issues
  • Men constantly win over women's opposition because of their superior hypocrisy
Sor Juana points out the wrongdoings by men in her poem but was able to neglect the male-dominant society because of her knowledge. She educated herself and would not let judgments control her. Back then, not many were educated or educated enough so many would live by men's judgments and let men control them. Sor Juana didn't believe that was acceptable - she was an early modern feminist.

  • "So downright foolish are you all // that your injurious justice claims // to blame one woman's cruelty // and fault the other's laxity" (264 lines 33-35).
-  Once again, she points out when men are the ones to cause damage or harm, they blame women's sufferings and lack of strictness.

  • "Why then are you so alarmed // by the  fault that is your own? // Wish women to be what you make them, // or make them what you wish they were" (264 lines 57-60).
- Meaning, why are men confused and lost when it is their own wrongdoing when they want to control and manipulate women. Once women have had enough, they no longer act the way men wish they once did. Men "want to find [women] as good as saints" again "once [they've] caused [women] to go bad" (264 lines 47 & 48). It was a man's world in Sor Juana's eyes and some would argue today that it still is.

Comments

  1. UnknownFebruary 1, 2018 at 12:30 PM

    Thank you for sharing your insight ! I so agree with your interpretation of the poem. I also agree that it was a man's world in Sor Juana's eyes, and that today, in many different cultures it still is. It is sad to say, but even in our American culture there are still arena's that are dominated by men.

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  2. JHFebruary 1, 2018 at 1:23 PM

    Great job, Alissa! You will definitely be able to come back to these notes and use them later on, either in a literary analysis post or in the literary projects.

    ReplyDelete
  3. UnknownFebruary 18, 2018 at 10:54 PM

    Hey Alissa. I appreciate your reading notes from the organization to the point you are saying you got from reading. I was very similar to what I obtained from the reading and how the relationship between men and women was very toxic and how men loved the control they had over women. But it just caused problems because women are not objects so when the author introduced this view it was like the worse nightmare for men at the time who wanted to keep women oppressed.

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