Reading Journal Template for Homework Journals

Follow this template for completing homework journals for the essays in the textbook. Make sure your journals
are properly labeled like I have done below. The points per section are included in parenthesis.

Daijzyahmaalah Frierson
Journal #​1​: ​“​Only Daughter​” ​(5 points)

Author: ​Sandra Cisneros​ ​(5 points)

Summary: (10 points)

Should be at least a paragraph, if not more.
Being the only girl out of seven children, Sandra Cisneros feels constantly left
out. One example is that her father would tell people that he has seven sons,
but in spanish (when describing male and female counterparts in spanish, you
use the masculine term). Another example, would be that Cisneros’ brothers
wouldn’t want to play with her, because they didn’t want to be seen playing
with a girl. Her father was disappointed when she graduated college without a
husband, but praised his sons for having successful careers. Cisneros wanted to
impress her father, so she wrote a book and shared it with him, which caused
him to ask for more copies for other relatives.

Purpose: (10 points)

Author’s purpose for writing.

Sandra Cisneros shares her life experiences as a minority in America, and is

noticed as a writer, while looking for her father's approval.

Rhetorical Strategies:
1. Rhetorical Device: ​Diction​ (7 points)
Quote: ​“​only daughter​” Example of rhetorical device as it was used in the text
(7 points)
Analysis (7 points)
She uses this quote six times in the introduction alone.
2. Rhetorical Device:​ ​Pathos​ (7 points)
Quote: ​“‘This is only my daughter. She teaches.’ Es maestra-teacher. Not
profesora.”​ ​ Example of rhetorical device as it was used in the text(7 points)
Analysis (7 points)
Though both occupations have the same responsibilities, one requires more
education (profesora/professor) than the other.

3. Rhetorical Device: ​Irony​ (7 points)

Quote: ​“‘Use this,’ my father said, tapping his head, ‘and not this,’ showing
us those hands.”​ ​ Example of rhetorical device as it was used in the text(7 points)
Analysis (7 points)
This is considered ironic because Cisneros’ father taught them to go through
life by using their heads, and not their hands, when he told her that college was
not the best option for her.

Comments: (7 points)
How did you feel about the writing? How did you respond? What did you like, dislike? What
could the writer have changed to make the article or essay better? Discuss the effect of the mode
of discourse (narration and description, argumentation, process analysis, etc.). What was the
author trying to accomplish by using this mode of writing?

I feel like this was good writing directed to minority females, who didn’t have the best
growing up, and work hard to where they want to be. The way I responded after reading
was that I was proud that the author was able to accomplish what she wanted to do. I like
how she still wanted to further her education, before thinking about marriage, and finally
able to impress her father with her book. I did not like, however, that her father wanted
her to have her own family without bothering to further her education, while praising his
sons for getting successful jobs. With narration and description writing, the author begins
with her family. (“I am the only daughter in a family of six sons.”). I think the author was
trying to tell readers that they can accomplish anything, no matter their ethnic
background.