I, The Worst of All

This week in class, we have been watching, “I, The Worst of All”, a story I find so intriguing, yet heartbreaking. It is about Sister Juana Ines de la Cruz, a woman who was forced to chose between a life free from legal and Church oppression, yet void of the very things that mean the most to her, tools of learning, or a life that is constantly scrutinized by Church officials, yet having access to a world of scientific and literary resources. She chose the latter because it was the only way she would be able to live mostly independently and have access to books, scientific tools, and be free to write beautiful poetry, although it came at a price. It was heartbreaking to see her so lonely. Her close friends, the Viceroy and Vicereine left for Spain and her own confessor left her, leaving her extremely vulnerable against the strong male oppressors of the Catholic Church. They felt as if she was taking advantage of all the resources the Church made available to her, but she did not seem thankful to God for it. Another huge conflict between Juana and her love for writing and learning was that women were not supposed to learn things for themselves, but were told what to believe and do. She was seen as dangerous and suspicious and could not be trusted. I am interested to see the end of this movie. Surely the Church cannot kick her out of the convent and let her be free in society; she would certainly be more “dangerous” out there without the oversight of the church.