Refusing Forced Renunciation of Self

Perhaps the most poignant aspect of Sor Juana's life is her forced recantation—her signing documents renouncing her studies, selling her library, and accepting silence. Yet even this was not complete renunciation; she maintained her dignity and some continued prayer until her death. This concept recognizes that justice requires the right to be oneself, to develop one's gifts, and to refuse demands that one erase essential aspects of identity. In libertarian terms, one's own nature—talents, drives, conscience, loves—cannot be legitimately taken as property by others. Forced renunciation represents a violation so fundamental it touches the root of personhood. This framework applies to all contexts where people are demanded to hide, deny, or destroy their authentic selves: women hiding intelligence, minorities concealing identity, dissenters silencing conscience. Justice requires protection not just of external property but of the right to exist authentically, to pursue callings that express one's nature, and to refuse to become whoever others demand one to be.