How Does Cisneros Demonstrate This And How Can You Relate?

ELISA PANI
ENG 101-210

ESSAY #1

Self knowledge is crucial for individual and society. How does Cisneros demonstrate this, and how can you relate?

If you look in the Dictionary for the word self-knowledge it says, “self-knowledge is the knowledge or understanding of one's own capabilities, character, feelings, or motivations”. Many people find themselves in difficult situations all the time. Some don’t fight to overcome this, but some do. It is even more difficult when that happens to kids, because they don’t know what is happening or why.
But what young people have, is hope. Finding themselves fighting alone, allows them to know themselves, to know what they are capable of, and they feel powerful, motivated. In Sandra Cisneros’s essay
Being by herself allows her to have a lot of time to think, read, and write.
She has different expectations from everybody else and she has the time to prepare herself for what is coming next, for what she really wants.
Soon she has made her plans about enrolling in college. The hard part is telling her father about this decision. Even if she is almost sure that her father will approve, she finds out that the only reason he accepts her enrollment in college, is because he thinks is a good a way to find herself an husband.

Sandra tries to attract her father’s attention without any
My dad was raised in a poor family of 11 that couldn't afford to pay his education. He grew up working really hard, finding himself on his own very soon. 
When I finished the high school, I decided to take a break from school and follow my old sister’s path, that is leave for the United States to work.
I remember very well my father disapproval for this. All those years spent in school and we gave up only so that we could go in another country to take care of “some kids”.
I felt really sad about this because I wanted him to be on my side, to be proud of me, but he kept telling me how I was wasting my time. He really wanted me to get educated and find a good job. Last Christmas, my parents came to visit in the United States to spend some time with me and my older sister. 
My father saw what was like to live in here by myself, how I was working really hard, all the responsibility I had, and how all this experience had changed me in a better way. He finally understood that I was growing, I was making new experiences and I was changing my life. We had a great time, and he kept telling me how proud was he of me and how happy seeing me like that made him