Eleven And Losing Face Essay

You encounter many events in your life. Some may be bad, while others can be good. Some events affect us so much that we remember them throughout our whole life. Some events can even affect your whole life. In the short story “Eleven,” by Sandra Cisneros, and the poem “Losing Face,” by Janet Wong , the events in the characters’ lives affect them in different ways. The short story is about Rachel, a girl who is eleven, but doesn’t feel like she is that age when she encounters an issue at school. Her teacher assumes that the ugly and raggedy sweater is Rachel’s when it is not. When her teacher, Mrs.Price gets peeved, she tells Rachel to wear the sweater and then Rachel starts sobbing and feels like she is three years old. The poem is about a girl who cheated on an art contest to make her mother proud. Then she wants to tell her mother the truth, but also doesn’t want to lose her mother's proud face. The characters’ lives are affected by events in the short story and the poem both positively and negatively.

The characters’ lives are affected by events negatively.

In “Eleven” it states that, “...but I wish I was was one hundred and two. I wish I was anything but eleven because I want today to be far away already, far away like a runaway balloon, like a tiny o in the sky, so tiny-tiny you have to close your eyes to see it.” This demonstrates that Rachel was so sad about the day, that she wants her birthday to be gone. She would become really negative about her eleventh birthday and would be really sad anytime she thought about it. In “Losing Face” states that, “I feel awful. I want to tell.” This shows that the speaker of the poem is always going to have the guilt that she cheated on an art contest. Both characters feel bad and don’t feel

strong.
The characters’ lives are also affected by events positively. Good things did happen in both stories to the characters. In the short story “Eleven it states that, “Today I’m eleven. There’s a cake Mama’s making for tonight, and when Papa comes home from work we’ll eat it. There’ll be candles and presents and everybody will sing Happy birthday, happy birthday to you, Rachel, only it’s too late.” Even though, Rachel is sad, she is trying to be confident. She is trying to stay positive and tell herself that she is old enough to handle these kind of issues. This confidence and positiveness would help Rachel overcome obstacles later in her life. In the poem “Losing Face” it states that, “Finally Mother is proud of something I have done. ‘My girl won the art contest,’ she tells the world, smiling so big and laughing so hard her gold tooth shows.” This shows that the speaker will be happy next time and would do something herself to make her mother proud without cheating. This would give hope to the speaker. Both characters’ feel happy in a way.
In conclusion, the characters’ lives in the short story “Eleven” and the poem “Losing Face” are affected by events both negatively and positively. You should not give up if something in life does not go as expected. You need to have confidence and faith in yourself. In the short story and poem, the characters’ are discouraged, but that should not change the rights you have.