People act much older or younger than they actually are, have you ever acted that way. In the brief story Eleven by Sandra Cisneros, the main character Rachel turns 11 while at school. At school her teacher, Mrs.Price holds out a red sweater accordingly asked who does it belong to. Everyone says not mine but one of the students aforementioned it was hers. So she is forced to wear it and cries in class,but a student says it was hers. From the school events Rachel nevertheless as reactions less mature or more mature. There were a few instances during her school day when Rachel reacted to events identical to an immature child. For instance in paragraph nine-teen, Rachel claims, “spit coming out of my mouth because I can’t stop the little animal noises from coming out of me. This exemplification shows how Rachel can behave like a toddler when she does not want to the sweater. Another way Rachel shows immaturity is when she plans to take the sweater and, “bunch it up into a little ball and toss it into the alley” in paragraph fourteen. This proves Rachel …show more content…
The example I give from paragraph Eleven when she says “because she's older and the teacher, she is right and I'm not”. This shows she's sort of matured because she avoids conflict with her teacher. Here's another way Rachel shows some maturity is when she tries to make herself happy paragraph twenty-one “There'll be candies and presents, and everybody will sing happy birthday, happy birthday to you Rachel only it's too late”. This shows she's sort of matured except only by her saying it's too late ruined it. There also were times when Rachel acted very mature I'm paragraph twelve Rachel said “today I am Eleven, Eleven Mama is making a cake for me tonight, and when Papa comes home everybody will sing happy birthday, happy birthday to you”. This shows she's trying to calm herself down and acts like a high school
How does one know that a person is maturing? Are there signs? What defines maturity? “A mature person assumes responsibility for his or her actions” (“Maturity”) but does that mean someone who cannot do that should not be considered mature? In The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver and The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, both Holden and Taylor go through a period in their lives where they start “putting aside ‘toys’ and fantasies...seeing the world as it really is” (“Maturity”). For Taylor, adulthood is thrust upon her when she “inherits” Turtle, while for Holden it takes till the end of the book--when he is with Phoebe--to realize.
Maturity is not a fickle expression such as happiness or frustration, but rather an inherent quality one gains over time, such as courage or integrity. Before maturity can be expressed, the one who expresses it must have significant confidence in himself, since self-confidence is the root of maturity. Being flexible and formulating one's own opinions or ideas are aspects of maturity, but neither is possible without self-confidence. The greatest aspect of maturity is the ability to make decisions which society does not agree with. Whether or not one follows through with these ideas is not important. What is important is the ability to make the decision. These decisions represent the greatest measure of maturity.
Many people have been questioning on whether maturity depends on one’s age. I believe that maturity isn’t dependant on someone’s age because one matures based on things they’ve undergo, and how their environment can be.
Of course, Rachel being 11 years old, she does not have a broad mindset which is the cause of her simplistic phrases that include repetition that help reflect her true age. “Not mine, not mine, not mine” repeating that the “ugly sweater” was not hers but clearly not being understood, Rachel must repeat this phrase -only in her head- just like any child would when not being listened to. Not only does this phrase inform the reader of Rachel’s weakness to stand up for herself but also of how she is accustomed to not being listened which has her thinking that she must repeat herself. Finding comfort in not only burying her face but in the thought of “mama's cake” and “everybody singing happy birthday”, she demonstrates that she feels smaller physically and emotionally so she continues this saying in her head to get her through her moment of the “sick feeling”. After constant wishing of being “102”, or “invisible” Rachel finally decides that it is too late for “mamas cake, “candles, presents and everybody will sing happy birthday” because she no longer feels “ten, and nine, and eight, and seven, and six, and five, and four, and three, and two, one” she no longer needs closure of her
The author’s use of Rachel’s perspective is important because it establishes a connection between the reader and the character. Noting that Rachel is eleven years old justifies her childish point of view that is expressed all throughout the piece. The entire story focuses around Rachel’s teacher trying to give Rachel back a sweater. Since Rachel’s considers the sweater ugly, she believes that she will be made of for it. For example, when Mrs. Price put the
Additionally, Sandra Cineros expresses Rachel not only as the main character of the story, but also the narrator. From one perspective, we know we can label her as a reliable narrator since what she says we can believe is true because she believes it herself. However, though she might not intent on deceiving us, readers might consider her unreliable because of her age and how she might over or under express her experience. Moreover, she has a limited range to what she can relate her feelings too which communicates her narrow point of view. “…like my wooden dolls that fit one inside the other, each year inside the next one. That’s how being eleven years old is” (36). Rachel compares her age to her wooden dolls which illustrates her eleven year old mindset; therefore, she attains a limited and unreliable point of view. Overall, Rachel’s reliability and unreliability as a narrator shapes the story as a whole because readers now understand her emotional delicacy brought upon by her age which changes how readers perceive her thoughts and feelings. In the end, as first person persistently appears throughout the story “Eleven,” readers acquire a more profound and insightful understanding of Rachel’s emotions and thoughts and the powerful effect those feelings convey on the
In “Eleven” by Sandra Cisneros actually touched me because I understand where the main character is coming from. Wishing you could be older because of the situation you’re in nobody believes you and you can’t do anything about it because they are older than you and have more authority over you. Then when you were right in the situation they don’t want to own up to their mistakes. We can tell this because of the quote, “I take it off right away and give it to her, only Mrs. Price pretends like everything’s okay.” The fact that the day was her birthday really makes it worse because who would want to spend their day being yelled at by their teacher and being humiliated in front of the class for something they were right about the whole time. It’s quite sad really and you wonder why the teacher didn’t believe her, like i'm pretty sure she know’s if that was her sweater or not
Cisneros does a very good job in showing relation to any age group to whatever the reader is. It really does feel as if the reader is the one in the place of writing this instead of reading it. This short story is real enough to make the reader believe that it is their own words and that is exactly what Cisneros is trying to do so that she could show the emotional experience that everyone goes through which most people call growing up. Growing up is not an easy task but once you get past those years that are the hardest you start to sit back and wonder if maybe it would be better to be back there. Rachel states, "When you are eleven, you're also ten and nine and eight and seven and six and five and four and three and two and one."(Cisneros 26). At some point in our lives we demonstrate more youth, regardless of how old we might be. This is valid for all grown-ups. Out of three hundred and sixty-five days there is at least one that involves tears from stress or anger. If Rachel were around our everyday lives she would say, "you are acting like you are three years of age". Cisneros reminds us that there is no exact age inside of us, instead we are many different ages put together. This is where the phrase "age is just a number" comes
...sn’t happy living this famous life and that’d she be happier out of spotlight and living in as she would say the “real world” where she was free to be who she really is. By being a regular teenager, she knew that she would be able to make friends and feel comfortable with whom she was. She would find real friends who would actually care for her and people who she could really trust. Staying true to who you are should means living your life trying to please yourself and by becoming Rachel Rogers she was able to live effortlessly because there was no effort put trying to be someone she was not. She was able to finally be proud of who she was remember what a natural smile felt like. If she wasn’t able to stay true to herself she would of continued on living a miserable life and regretting the fact that there was a better one waiting for her outside the Hollywood world.
In “Eleven”, written by Sandra Cisneros, Cisneros uses literary techniques such as diction and imagery to characterize Rachel’s character during her transition from age ten to age 11. These literary techniques help to describe how Rachel feels in certain situations while also explaining her qualities and traits. Through the use of these literary techniques Cisneros also collaborated on Rachel’s feelings when she was other ages and how she felt at that time during her life.
Maturity is a coming of age when a person is growing emotionally and mentally. Maturity is gained by experiences and decision-making, thus learning from mistakes. This is evident in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Through characterization and symbolism Lee displays maturity.
“Maturity comes from experience, not age” said Ziad K. Abdelnour. It does not matter what age you are. However, the experiences you go through do affect how you mature. See how two children mature in the 1930’s. Harper Lee’s book, To Kill A Mockingbird, is about two children with their experiences of coming to age in the 1930’s and their changing perceptions of the world.
Sandra Cisneros writes a memoir through the eyes of an eleven year old. Turning eleven happens to be a tragic day for the main character, Rachel. Through various literary techniques such as hyperbole, simile, and syntax, Rachel is characterized. Rachel is a fresh turning eleven year old who finds herself in an awful situation on her birthday. Forced to wear a raggedy old sweater that doesn’t belong to her, she makes it defiantly clear her feelings towards the clothing item, and we see this through use of hyperboles. Rachel describes the sweater as ugly and too “stretched out like you could use it for a jump rope.” This extreme exaggeration demonstrates the fire within Rachel. She is a defiant and pouty little girl who out of stubbornness has to defy the sweater in her mind. “It’s maybe a thousand years old”, she says to herself in act to degrade the filthy red sweater even more. The sweater to Rachel has become an eternal battle of ages. She is torn on whether or not to stand up and act bigger th...
Being a dad’s only daughter is by far one of the greatest things in this world I believe. In Sandra Cisneros essay “Only Daughter”, she tends to believe that living life, as the only daughter in her family may not be one of the greatest situations. Throughout her essay she describes how she feels in great depth from her personal point of view. As the only daughter in the family out of six brothers, Sandra knew she needed some motivation in her life. Being the only daughter in a family can have many affects on a person, including making them spend time alone, having high expectations, and holding a specific destiny in life.
For me, driving a car, going to Europe, graduating, and having a job have all contributed to my maturity. I have to make life and death choices every day while driving, and my choices affect other’s lives- and that bring a lot of maturity. I went to Europe basically by myself, with no parent there to hold my hand. I had to make good choices, be safe and be mature while I was half way across the world from my parents. I am graduating this year as well. After this summer I am going to college, being a real “adult” and I will be able to make my own choices. Maturity will help me keep my head on straight while I am being my own boss. For the past two years I have held the same job. This job has taught me responsibility, how to deal with money and people and basic life skills. If I were not mature I would not be able to hold a job for that long.