Although they were never in direct contact, Suchon and Ines de la Cruz had a lot in common through their experiences and their philosophical beliefs. Concerning their experiences, Suchon and Ines de la Cruz both joined the convent, a fairly common path for women. Suchon, not by choice, joined the convent following her father’s death where she stayed for many years. Ines de la Cruz decided to join the convent to study philosophy because she was not wealthy and did not have access to the limited educational opportunities for women at the time. Ines de la Cruz appreciated her time at the convent as she had access to learning materials. Suchon, however, argued that her time in the convent reflected the lack of equal rights for women concerning education and freedom of choice.
Both Suchon and Ines de la Cruz had a desire to learn. Educational opportunities for women were limited to women of aristocratic families only. Men had a much greater access to education and were regarded better than women in society. Suchon believed that the optimal life for women was a life of neutralism. In her work, “On the Celibate Life Freely Chosen”, Suchon describes a neutralist as someone who is stripped of patriarchal institutions, that she argued was marriage and the convent, to live a life with one’s own identity. Neutralists are free to share their talents, explore their interests, and have choice over what they do with their lives. One of the primary aspects of neutralism is being able to intellectually study without limitations. Suchon argues that nature and religious faith both agree that women and men are equal beings. According to reason, a female’s nature is not any different from a man’s nature because we are all inherently human. According to religion, all human beings are made with a good and equal nature. Here, she eliminates any possibility that women and men are not inherently equal, once again arguing for educational opportunities for women. She states that “constraint brings changes and troubles to families… [it] is more frightful than all the reversals of nature and the contrariness of the elements.” (“On the Celibate Life Freely Chosen”). Keeping women from equal opportunities and rights goes against the way of nature.
While Suchon left the convent to learn, Ines de la Cruz joined the convent to do so. In her letter “Response of the Poet to the Very Eminent Sor Filotea de la Cruz”, Ines de la Cruz describes her love of learning being apparent at an early age. She describes that she would go with her older sister to her reading lessons when she was only three. She explains that when she was young, she “abstained from eating cheese because [she] had heard it made people stupid, and [her] desire to learn was stronger in [her] than the desire to eat” (“Response of the Poet to the Very Eminent Sor Filotea de la Cruz”). Ines de la Cruz believes that knowledge in one subject reflects to other areas. For example, one’s knowledge of science and art is important to understanding religion and God more. Furthermore, what she does not understand in one area, she can figure out from another area. She adds, “the labor it has cost me, the difficulties I have endured, the times I have despaired, and the other times I have desisted and begun again, all because of my determination to learn” (“Response of the Poet to the Very Eminent Sor Filotea de la Cruz”). Her quest for knowledge came with a lot of work and hard times, but to her it is all worth it because she is educated. Like Suchon, Ines de la Cruz argues her point through a God given nature. She says that it is within her God given nature that she feels the need to learn. God has given her an irresistible, natural need to study. She describes herself as a martyr for knowledge, comparing herself to Christ, to describe her extremely passionate desire for learning. She describes her own passion to argue that women should be accepted as scholars.
Both Suchon and Ines de la Cruz promote equal rights and women’s equality. In another work by Suchon, “Treatise on Ethics and Politics, Divided into Three Parts”, Suchon describes freedom as having three parts: freedom of the mind, freedom of the heart, and freedom of conscience. Freedom of conscience concerns knowledge and conscience; freedom of the heart refers to the freedom of love and other emotions; freedom of the mind is given to all humans by God. Suchon argues that in order for people to have these freedoms, they must have knowledge. She states, “Since all the evils committed in the world originate from ignorance, it should not come as a surprise that ignorance engenders dimness, weakness, dissoluteness and corruption of the principal parts of a rational being” (“Treatise on Ethics and Politics, Divided into Three Parts”). Knowledge is important because it prevents wrongs committed by ignorance. Therefore, knowledge should be sought out, and accessible to both men and women. Ines de la Cruz would agree that knowledge is essential. She argues that knowledge is vital to understand religion and other aspects of life. In her letter, she explains that she devoted her life to learning because of her innate love of learning. As Suchon mentioned, the three freedoms are made possible by knowledge. Both Suchon and Ines de la Cruz argue that knowledge is innate and found in men and women and use knowledge as an argument for equal rights for women.
Both Suchon and Ines de la Cruz were feminist writers and strong advocates of equal rights for women. Though they were never in direct contact, Suchon and Ines de la Cruz share similarities in their viewpoints, lives, and arguments.
Works Cited:
Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, “Response of the Poet to the Very Eminent Sor Filotea de la Cruz”
Suchon, Gabrielle, “On the Celibate Life Freely Chosen”
Suchon, Gabrielle, “Treatise on Ethics and Politics, Divided into Three Parts”