READING AND DISCUSSION QUESTIONS FOR “EXPLORATION OF SELF AND THE WORLD: A WOMAN'S RIGHT TO KNOWLEDGE”

Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, The Answer/ La Respuesta. "The Poet's Answer to the Most Illustrious Sor Filotea de la Cruz"

I. Reading Questions

1. Who is Sor Filotea? [106]

2. Who wrote the "Letter Worthy of Athena"? Who published it? [41]

3. Why has Sor Juana written little about sacred matters? [45]

4. Why does Sor Juana want to study and learn? [47]

5. From where does Sor Juana get the books to read when she is a child? [51]

6. What are the skills that women learn? [51]

7. Why does Sor Juana enter the convent and become a nun? What are the advantages that Sor Juana sees in being a nun? [51]

8. What is at the top of the ladder of knowledge of arts and sciences? Why is it important to have erudition to understand the Holy Scripture? [53, 55, 57]

9. Why is Sor Juana persecuted? [71]

10. Why does Sor Juana refer to so many women in her letter? [77, 79]

11. Why should some men be prohibited from studying? [81]

12. Who should teach women? Why? [85]

13. How does she defend her right to write poetry? [95]

II. Discussion Questions

1. Analyze the way Sor Juana discusses this quotation from the New Testament:  (1) "Let women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted them to speak, but to be subject, as also the law saith. But if they would learn anything, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is a shame for a woman to speak in the church" [1 Corinthians 14: 34-35] (Reader, page 191; quoted by Sor Juana, page 81).  Also, discuss the parts of the letter where Sor Juana speaks about silence.

2. Why was it necessary for Sor Juana to speak of herself and of many other women, in order to defend the right of women to knowledge? Discuss.