In my readings regarding Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, it
seems that becoming a nun was a choice she preferred to make, rather than being married
(in which she had no interest). She was illegitimate and came from a relatively poor
("unconnected") family, and because learning was her passion, the convent would have
provided her with a socially acceptable way to continue studying and
writing.
In
1667, given what she called her “total disinclination to marriage” and her wish “to have
no fixed occupation which might curtail my freedom to study,” Sor...Juana began her life
as a nun with a brief stay in the order of the Discalced Carmelites. She moved in 1669
to the more lenient Convent of Santa Paula of the Hieronymite order in Mexico City, and
there she took her vows. Sor Juana remained cloistered in the Convent of Santa Paula for
the rest of her
life.
Sor
Juana is considered something of a prodigy in her young years, and later, a strong
feminist voice for women. Some sources report that her writing, "Respuesta a Sor
Filotea" "has been hailed as the first feminist manifesto." For most of her time there,
convent life suited her and allowed her to write as she saw fit. It was not until the
later years of her life that she lost the patrons who protected her "freedom of speech
and opinion" (in 1688), and was forced to live a "quieter" life, unable to freely write
as she felt moved to.
Additional
source:
http://www.biography.com/articles/Sor-Juana-Inés-de-la-Cruz-38178
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