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Emily Dominguez

Professor Huff

ENGL-100-06

14, March 2022

Rhetorical Analysis

If there is one thing every child aspires to do, it is to satisfy and appease an adult in their

life that they look up to. Whether it be parents, aunts or uncles, or a teacher, a child will always

find some sense of achievement when given approval and support from an influential adult.

Obviously, a child will have to get to this goal through some sense of independence. By first

learning a certain task, then conveying that task was learned by executing it on their own. Many

children find this sense of independence in their time spent alone, leaving room for creativity and

imagination to grow. For Sandra Cisneros, her dream was to be a writer. In her essay “Only

Daughter”, she discusses her battle of being an only daughter in a family of boys and integrates

her struggle with acceptance and support from her father with the usage of pathos, rhetorical

questions, and repetition.

Rhetorical writing will always have one of two intentions: for the writer to either

persuade, or to create an impression on their reader. By creating an emotional appeal (pathos)

within their writing, this tool can be effectively used to draw the reader in more by creating

topics one can empathize or even sympathize on. Cisneros heavily mentioned her family life

within her writing, specifically in how her father presented her to the world. “ ‘I have seven

sons.’.... My papa. He didn’t mean anything by that mistranslation, I’m sure. But somehow I

could feel myself being erased. I’d tug my father’s sleeve and whisper: ‘Not seven sons. Six! and

one daughter.’ ” (Cisneros 445) Her identity heavily and wrongfully relied on being an only
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daughter in a family with seven sons. Using a metaphor by saying she feels “erased” doesn’t

exactly mean she is actually getting taken away from her situation, rather, she felt like she

disappeared and was not relevant in her environment, like a mistake that was meant to be erased

in writing. She felt irrelevant in her father’s introductions because of his failure to shine light on

the fact that he has only one daughter. This was a memorable experience for her, so much so that

it was forward as a flashback, taking the readers back to her feelings, describing it so fondly and

in depth to make sure the reader can relate emotionally with her by creating a deeper level for

readers to understand. Cisneros also wrote about how “Being an only daughter in a family of six

sons forced me by circumstance to spend a lot of time by myself because my brothers felt it

beneath them to play with a girl in public. But that aloneness, that loneliness, was good for a

would-be writer — it allowed me time to think… to imagine, to read and prepare myself.”

(Cisneros 442) By inserting her tone, she provides the reader with dramatic insight as to how her

brothers discluding her made her feel. The words of “forced… felt it was beneath them… that

aloneness… that loneliness..” are all uses of vivid words to describe her emotions, thus creating

an emotional appeal.

Another rhetorical device Cisneros uses is the form of repetition. “‘I am the only

daughter in a Mexican family of six sons…. ‘I am the only daughter of a Mexican Father and

Mexican-American Mother. Or: “I am the only daughter of a working class family of nine.” All

of these had to do with who I am today. I was/am the only daughter and only a daughter. Being

an only daughter….” (Cisneros 443) By using repetition, Cisneros is placing emphasis on her

identity as an only daughter. This identity is drastically and extremely important within this

piece; not because it’s the title of this piece, but because this identity also is heavily emphasized

in her family life. Cisneros mentions that “Being an only daughter for my father meant my
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destiny would lead me to become someone’s wife… After four years in college and two more in

graduate school, and still no husband, my father still shakes his head even now and says that I

wasted all that education.” (Cisneros 443) Like mentioned before, all a child wants to do is to

appease and satisfy their parents. Cisneros thought she was doing so by getting an education, and

becoming a reformed writer. But because she did not get married even throughout her college

experience, she did not satisfy her father, because being his only daughter meant for her to

marry, not to make him proud through writing. She felt the need to remind readers (through her

usage of repetition) that being an only daughter was her identity; she really only had one goal to

fulfill, which was to get married. Because she did not fulfill this goal set by her father, she

expressed her sense of feeling like her father wasn’t satisfied with her work. She also uses

repetition in a shorter scale “...I wanted him to interrupt. I wanted my father to understand what I

was scribbling…” (Cisneros 443) By repeating the phrase of “I wanted” Cisneros reveals her

extreme yearn for her father to want to understand why and what she was writing because she

felt it was important for him to understand so he could fully appreciate her art of writing.

Cisneros also utilized the rhetorical device of rhetorical questions. “In retrospect, I’m

lucky my father believed daughters were meant for husbands… I’d find a nice professional

eventually right?” (Cisneros 443) By asking this question, readers will get a hint of sarcasm. But,

that that sarcasm was a point Cisneros was trying to convey; it wasn’t necessary or rational for

her father to believe she was meant to be married. “Wasn’t college an investment? And hadn’t I

spent all those years in college? And if I didn’t marry, what was it all for? Why would anyone go

to college and then choose to be poor?” (Cisneros 445) This series of questions makes room for

readers to indulge further into the reading by thinking about her questions, and how they would

respond to that. Those answers would then tie into how she wants the reader to think, as these
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same questions should be answered like she would have. In short, she asked these questions to

make a point, that she was not meant to be a wife, because that is stupid and irrational to be a

main life goal for anyone! College is an investment for education, not relationships. Furthering it

(education) can bring many benefits and should not have to be centered around finding a partner.

Growing up, all a child wants to do is to make someone in their lives proud, to earn

validation and approval when showing off any kind of work. For Cisneros, her essay “Only

Daughter” indulges in her battle of finding that validation from her father being the only

daughter in her family. She wanted to stick out to him, and make him proud with her love and

works of writing. By writing, she found ways to work on making him proud with her stories

being published in higher levels. To communicate her journey, Cisneros utilized the rhetorical

devices of pathos, rhetorical questions, and repetition to help readers see it all from her

perspective.
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Works Cited:

Downs, Doug, et al. Writing About Writing "Only Daughter". 4th ed.