Sor Juana

Sor Juana, in the letter to Sister Filotea or bishop of Pueblo, mentioned that she learned how to read when she was three and by the age of six or seven, she learned how to write and embroidery and sewing. She even boasted how she learned Latin grammar when she did not take over twenty lessons. And by expressing her intelligence, she sarcastically said that she cut her hair “four to six finger lengths of it … to punish my [Sor Juana’s] dimwittedness.” This examples shows how sarcastic Sor Juana is about apologizing to or thanking the bishop of Pueblo.

As mentioned in the letter, Sor Juana’s act of cutting her hair which is described as “since this is true about women, and even more so in the bloom of my youth, that we value so highly the natural look of our hair”, shows that it is necessary for her to throw away the most important part of her womanhood in order to learn, and this shows just how determined she is.