In the short story, “Eleven”, by Sandra Cisneros, the main character, Rachel, had just turned eleven. Throughout the story, Rachel explains how a person is never one specific age and will demonstrate different age characteristics throughout life. Rachel states that “some days you might say something stupid, and that’s the part of you that’s still ten.” She conveys how age is just a number and a person will never let that part of you go. The author, Sandra Cisneros, uses several literary devices throughout the short story to characterize Rachel.
Sandra Cisneros uses similes to compare how Rachel is feeling and thinking based on a certain situation: “You grow old is kind of like an onion or like the rings inside a tree trunk or like my wooden dolls that fit one inside the other, each year inside the next.” Rachel seems dissatisfied of being eleven based on the comparison the author uses throughout the text. Thus, Rachel never seems happy as the story goes on because she said, “Only it’s too late,”
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The author states multiple descriptive words which allow the audience to imagine what Rachel is thinking of a specific part in the story. The author states that “It’s an sweater with red plastic buttons and a collar and sleeves all stretched out like you can use it for a jump rope. It’s maybe a thousand years old and even if it belonged to me I wouldn’t have said so.” The adjectives used to describe the sweater allows the reader to analyze Rachel’s behavior and thoughts which also shows the author’s use of descriptive diction. Rachel called the sweater “ugly” and “stretched out” which clearly conveys how she disapproves of several things. The author also explains Rachel’s reaction when the sweater was placed on her desk: “I don’t know why but all of a sudden I’m feeling sick inside…,” Rachel’s attitude was demonstrated by the literary device of
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.
Similes in the story gives the readers insight of not only the fifth-grader but the adult too. “By the time school started that year, Eddy had a keloid like a piece of twine down the side of his face and a black patch he had to wear until he got his glass eye that stared in a fixed angle at the sky,” (Line 56-59). This quote has a simile, which shows how the fifth-grader feels about her cousin Eddy. The simile allows the readers to make a prediction that the fifth-grader and Eddy get along pretty well because the narrator never describes him as scary, mean, or distant. The simile effects the narrator’s characterization because it make the fifth-grader seem gentle and excited to be around people. The character is given characterization through similes. Similes are a key component to characterization because it allows readers to understand the narrator and character in the story. Figurative language is used throughout the story to characterize the adult narrator's memories in the
Ann Rinaldi has written many books for young teenagers, she is an Award winning author who writes stories of American history and makes them become real to the readers. She has written many other books such as A Break with Charity, A Ride into Morning, and Cast two Shadows, etc. She was born in New York City on August 27, 1934. In 1979, at the age of 45, she finished her first book.
In the summer of 1940, World War II had been in progress for nearly a year. Adolf Hitler was victorious and planning an invasion of England to seal Europe’s fate. Everyone in the United States of America knew it. The Germans were too powerful. Hitler's Luftwaffe had too many planes, too many pilots and too many bombs and since Hitler was Europe's problem, the United States claimed to be a neutral country (Neutrality Act of 1939). Seven Americans, however, did not remain neutral and that’s what this book is about. They joined Britain's Royal Air Force to help save Britain in its darkest hour to fight off the skilled pilots of Germany's Luftwaffe in the blue skies over England, the English Channel, and North Europe. By October 1940, they had helped England succeed in one of the greatest air battles in the history of aviation, the Battle of Britain. This book helps to show the impact of the few Americans who joined the Battle of Britain to fight off an evil that the United States didn’t acknowledge at the time. The name of Kershaw’s book was inspired from the quote, “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to sow few,” which was said by British Officer and Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
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...
Displaying one's emotions in public is often not planned nor wanted especially when it comes to crying due to humiliation and shame. In the short story “Eleven” by Sandra Cisneros, literary terms such as simile, diction, and repetition are utilized in characterizing emotional “eleven” year old Rachel. The figurative language used, support the images that were intended for the reader to perceive. Diction and repetition help guide the audience with a certain point of view towards the characters. Not only does Cisneros exploit these literary terms to explain and characterize Rachel's feelings but to exhibit how one may not always have the courage, personal strength, or maturity to handle certain situations.
The short story Eleven by Sandra Cisneros, focuses around the main character Rachel as an insecure developing girl who lacks the experience to handle everyday encounters. Rachel, an eleven year old girl truly encapsulates the thoughts that are present within an adolescent. The lack of confidence in herself, excessive fear of being judged, and ideas of growing up are ideals that are relevant within each and every one of us. The reader is able to relate to Rachel because her feelings and experiences that are described by the author are similar to what most people have been through and are currently experiencing. The characterization of Rachel is expressed through the author’s usage of point of view, imagery, and repetition.
...ltimately makes the young girl feel that she will break underneath all the pressure she is placed upon by her peers. Inevitably it seems that Judith Ortiz Cofer used similes in order to connect both the act of maturing to a much more somber factor which have reinforced the tenor of the poem.
In life we go through very hard times that’s just how life circles, but do these problems really help shape your spirit to who you are today and who you will be one day in the future? In the book Copper Sun by Sharon Draper Amari overcomes some of the most complicated problems in the history of the U.S., in which I personally don’t think I would have been able to handle as swiftly and fast as Amari had. With the help of others Amari was able to create a strong backbone to carry her thought out the way and support her in her worst times. Although some of these influences weren’t always the best people such as Clay, he helped shape Amaris future and the theme of the story. Finally, how important where the minor characters on helping to shape the main character’s spirit and inner mind, and after that transaction how where they able to slowly develop the theme/message of the book?
Silver Linings Playbooks tells the story of Pat Solitano Jr. (played by Bradley Cooper), a high school teacher diagnosed with bipolar disorder who is trying to get his life back together. The movie opens as Pat is released from a psychiatric hospital after eight months of treatment and moves back in with his parents. He is determined to get back together with his wife, Nikki, despite all the signs that say she does not want to be with him - such as the restraining order she filed against him. Pat meets recently widowed Tiffany Maxwell (played by Jennifer Lawrence), who is suffering from depression and overcoming a sex addiction that ensued from the death of her husband. Tiffany offers to help deliver Pat’s letters to Nikki if he enters a dance competition with her. As the movie goes on, Pat and Tiffany’s relationship progresses and they learn to cope with their issues.
In the month of March 2016, Women of the World Poetry Slam had Rachel Wiley, a poet and body-positive activist, present her now viral poem called “The Dozens” (Vagianos 2016). This poem was about slams white feminism as a clear indication of whiteness self-defense mechanism. In this poem Wiley included various kinds social events that have occurred in the past years and just to name two: Raven Symone on blackness and Miley Cyrus and Nicki Manji at the VMAs. White feminism continues to become more problematic as the media continues to allow it to be because whiteness makes money; however, intersectionality about race, public imagery, and actual feminism also continues to go viral as the diversity of American become more and more productive.
In this passage, Sandra Cisneros explains the world of a small eleven-year old girl named Rachel who has been disappointed but taught by her experiences. The author uses several literary devices such as simile, imagery, foreshadowing, tone, diction, etc., to address the neglected and sad feelings of Rachel and to portray Rachel as a character who changes as a result of experience. Rachel, as she explains her difficulty in growing up, she is embarrassed and feels helpless. Though she just turned eleven, all the years before eleven are "pushing at the back of her eyes". The author shoots all these emotions out from Rachel and characterize her actions as that of which small kids would do so they can solve problems. Cisneros uses all these various literary techniques to create the development of the character of Rachel in that she is complex and round
The imagery really helps in believing this is an eleven year old telling the story. This voice doesn't feel like a grown-up essayist putting his or her words in an eleven year-old storyteller's mouth, and these pictures develop a world originating from a kid's perspective. All devices that are used in this short story really do help the reader relate to Rachel. 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
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.
In the story, “Eveline”, a young girl (although older than the prepubescent boy in the first story) is sitting at a windowsill, reflecting on her past, and imagining her near future. The narrator describes E...