Since the female speaker discussed in her poem is "different", she is criticized...
Does the comma after different belong there? Or does it go inside the parentheses?
Depends on your country. British do it differently, usually outside the quotation marks, but in American "Standard English " it is inside.
Other punctuation marks have other rules with quotation marks. https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/how-to-use-quotation-marks
So would this be correct for American Standard English?
In the poem, "My Wicked Wicked Ways," Sandra Cisneros expresses....
Correct.
To determine the correct placement of the comma in this case, we need to consider the structure and grammar of the sentence. Here's how you can go about it:
1. Identify the main clause: "The female speaker is criticized."
2. Now, let's focus on the phrase within the parentheses: "in her poem."
3. Ask yourself: Is the information within the parentheses essential to the meaning of the sentence? In other words, does the sentence make sense without it?
In this case, the information within the parentheses is additional, but not crucial to the main idea of the sentence. The main thought is that the female speaker is criticized. Therefore, the phrase within the parentheses is considered non-essential and should be set off with commas.
As a result, the correct placement of the comma would be outside the parentheses. Here's the revised sentence: "Since the female speaker discussed in her poem is 'different,' she is criticized..."