The Castas system established as a hierarchal system that divided the race, occupation, and lineage. The castas painting are used to spread the preconceived notions about certain castas, “the castas paintings offer insight into the eighteenth-century elaboration of attitudes and prejudices …show more content…
Evidence of the effect the castas system had on marriage is seen within “Don Manuel Valdivieso Protests the Marriage of his Daughter.” Don Manuel Valdivieso submitted this court-documented lawsuit in efforts to stop his daughters’ marriage. The lawsuit was filed against Don Juan Teodoro Jaramillo, someone seen as to be from a lower class, and therefore unable to marry Don Manuel Valdivieso’s daughter. The main argument against this marriage was in regards to the fact that Jaramillo’s social standing being lower of Valdivieso’s family, “ Jaramillo is plebeian… and cannot and shall not enter into marriage with doña Baltasara.” Marriage was less about love, and more about someone’s class. The castas system began laying the foundation for gender division. The women’s opinion on which they marry was never asked for, and this forms the idea that the men would decide for the …show more content…
Sor Juana de la Cruz explains the reason why she took the veil stating, “ I took the veil because, although I knew I would find religious life many things that would be quite opposed to my character…not wanting to have other obligations that would disturb my freedom to study…” What Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz was saying that despite her less than positive opinions on religious life, she saw it as a way to have access to an education, which was more important to her. Convents were not always an escape for women to get an education, the same social system that was carried outside of the convent, was brought into the convent. Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz broke barriers by bending and twisting the rules in her favor. She argued, “Without logic, how should I know the general and specific methods by which Holy Scripture is written?” Sor Juana defended her studies by stating that it was in order for her to understand her religion, and even when her books were taken away from her she used other forms in order to absorb intelligence. We see other important figures such as the Lieutenant Nun, also known as Catalina de Erauso, broke barriers when she ran away and disguised herself as a man in order to join the military in Chile. People only found out that she was a man when she confessed it. The Lieutenant Nun was recognized by Phillip II and given special