The author of the short story titled “Eleven”, Sandra Cisneros, portrays the protagonist, Rachel, as a girl with a mind well beyond her years. However, as the story continues, Cisnero delves deeper, by employing literary techniques, revealing that Rachel’s timid nature and immature instincts inhibit her from transitioning into a mature young adult, whom she strives to become. Cisnero starts the story immediately with a commentary from Rachel. “What they don’t understand about birthdays… is that when you’re eleven, you’re also ten, and nine, and eight… you open your eyes and everything’s just like yesterday.. you feel like you’re still ten. And you are - underneath the year that makes you eleven.” This complex thought portrays Rachel as a wise …show more content…
Mrs. Prince says…. not mine, says everybody. Not me [Rachel’s]… Sylvia Saldivar says, I think it belongs to Rachel. Mrs. Prince believes her. Mrs. Prince takes the sweater and puts it right on my [Rachel’s] desk, but when I [Rachel] open[‘s] my [her] mouth, nothing comes out.” This red sweater, that has “been sitting in the coatroom for a month”, and the event’s relating to the sweater, not only revealed Rachel’s inner characteristics, but also symbolized Rachel’s childhood. This event occurred on a very special day, Rachel’s eleventh birthday. This birthday represented maturity and growing up. But when the sweater, that was brought in while Rachel was ten, was labeled as her’s, Rachel felt as if she was still a child. It was “a big red mountain”, barricading Rachel from becoming an adult. And when Mrs. Prince keeps on insisting that the sweater was Rachel’s and when Rachel continued to resist the fact, Rachel’s emotions were “hanging all over the edge, like a waterfall.” Finally, Rachel broke and failed the test that the red sweater encompassed. This sweater revealed the several personality traits and different age characteristics that Rachel had “rattling inside...like pennies in a tin Band-Aid …show more content…
Prince pulls up the red sweater and asks the class “whose is this?”, Rachel’s timid and insecure nature are revealed. “ It’s an ugly sweater with red plastic buttons and a collar and sleeves all stretched out… even if it belonged to me, I wouldn’t say so.” In this line, Rachel is indirectly stating that she would never want anyone to know if she owned that sweater because of how ugly it was. This line demonstrates that Rachel is very insecure and conscious about how people view and think of her. To further emphasize this point, Phyllis Lopez, “who is even dumber than Sylvia Saldivar” and “remembers that the red sweater is hers!” is introduced. Phyllis is portrayed as a foil of Rachel. She is not necessarily smart and she proudly reclaims her sweater. “All of a sudden I’m crying infront of everybody. I wish I was invisible but I’m not. I’m eleven and it’s my birthday today and I’m crying... in front of everybody” Using imagery, Cisneros uses imagery to paint a perfect picture of what is happening and continues to portray Rachel as an archetype of an insecure girl by making Rachel seem to be embarrassed from crying in front of her classmates and acting “like I’m [Rachel’s] three.” The author also ties in Rachel’s desire to be mature to this event by including an age into this event. By including this bit of information, it makes it more clear that Rachel wants to be mature and wants to control her emotions, and not
Silver believes that Rachel will grow up just like any other child, but she will be “special.” Until the day that reproductive cloning is accepted in society, Rachel will be known for being “special.” Genetically, Jennifer isn’t Rachel’s mother. Jennifer is, in fact, Rachel’s twin sister. Rachel’s grandparents not only have the title of grandparents, but of Rachel’s genetic parents as well.
This story basically tells of a girl?s pride being hurt. It was Rachel?s birthday and her teacher embarrassed her by stating a raggedy old sweater was hers. The metaphors Rachel uses to describe this article of clothing and her age throughout the story are indicators that she is still a child and that she lives a simple life. For example, Rachel said ?Because the way you grow old is kind of like an onion or like the rings inside ...
Throughout Baby’s life she has experienced many cases where she has lost her innocence. Baby is young enough to bring her dolls around in a vinyl suitcase, yet old enough to experience more than she should about the world’s hardships. Baby and Jules had a lot of misfortunes in their life, and Baby’s vulnerability contributes to her misfortune, in being unable to differentiate between right and wrong, due to her desire to be loved; which Jules always failed to show her. There are many reasons why young adults feel the need to grow up fast in the adulthood world but in the end it’s not worth it. The childhood stage is overlooked and that’s the most important stage of life that young adults should cherish, because you only live through it once.
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
Hattie spent much of her younger years living with different relatives because both of her parents had died when she was five. As Hattie was “tossed” from one relative’s home to another throughout her childhood, she never had a sense of belonging. To make matters worse, her relatives treated her like a hassle—as though her very existence was an annoyance. Needless to say, Hattie’s relatives were neither supportive nor encouraging of her. By age 16, Hattie’s feeling of self-worth was at an all time low. The story did not describe her appearance in depth, but it did say she was very modest and dressed humbly.
Sandra Cisneros’ writing style is very unique and allows the reader to engage with the characters making them so realistic. She makes the reader sympathize so easily with the characters. Cisneros uses incredible metaphors, similes, and imagery to make the reader connect with the setting and characters.
In Phoebe’s Prince story, for instance, no amount of finger pointing or apportioning blame can address the underlying issues. For one, she was an emotionally disturbed girl who had tried to end her life before she got bullied in school. Apart from her depressive state, Phoebe had minimal communication of her challenges in school with her parents or any authority figures (teachers or even the school principal) in her life. These gaps are what are highlighted in this paper and hopefully when fully grasped can help to minimize the gaps that exist in our social
It brings out the complexity and frustration of this character symbolizing how this sweater that is "ugly with red plastic buttons and a collar and sleeves all stretched out like you could use it for a jump rope" has become Rachel's lifelong battle. It's a battle that lasted for 11 years and how she builds up as a stronger person as she grows up but is still hesitant to stand up and act as the eleven year old she really is and confidently tell the teacher that the sweater is most definitely not hers. Rachel compares growing old as "kind of like an onoion or like the rings inside a tree trunk or like my wooden dolls that fit inside one another". Her confidence rattles like "pennies in a tin Band-Aid Box" showing how she is always on the edge of bursting into tears and feeling sad about who and what she is. Another comparison to when Rachel describes the sweater as "smelling like cottage cheese" it not only compares the sweater to "cottage cheese" but also her
story but also to show Rachel’s feelings throughout the story. As Rachel talks about her
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.
Marita Bonner starts her short essay by describing the joys and innocence of youth. She depicts the carefree fancies of a cheerful and intelligent child. She compares the feelings of such abandonment and gaiety to that of a kitten in a field of catnip. Where the future is opened to endless opportunities and filled with all the dream and promises that only a youth can know. There are so many things in the world to see, learn, and experience that your mind in split into many directions of interest. This is a memorable time in life filled with bliss and lack of hardships.
The story is told by the main character Vanessa who is reflecting back on a memory of when she was ten. Throughout the short story plot, conflict, character, theme, and symbol, which are all extremely important elements of fiction, are depicted. The plot of the short
Mericans was a short and straightforward story. The main character was a young female, Micaela, who was also the narrator, started off with very detail descriptions of the setting. Such stories always give its reader an idea of the author’s reason behind the story. Mericans is simply about a young girl who is in a conflict between two different cultural groups, America and Mexico. While, Eleven, is also short to the point conflicting story, however, the main character is conflicting between her. Eleven is about a little girl, Rachel, the narrator, who just turned eleven years old and wishes she were one hundred and two years of age instead. As she feels that turning eleven has no specific relevance. Comparing these two characters, they depict what most children feel towards adults, which is a certain type of frustration. Throughout the stories, its gives the readers some knowledge and detailed description of what the characters undergo.
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...