Theme in the story Eleven The irony of life is that as a person grows older, they want to experience their youth again, while at the time they are young all they want is to be older. In "Eleven" by Sandra Cisneros, Rachel is only eleven years old, yet she would rather be one hundred and two. She feels that the old age will give her the respect and wisdom to be able to stand up for herself. The coming of age theme represents a cumulative concept in which each year builds upon all the other ages. One way that the cumulative issue is apparent is, though Rachel is only eleven years old, she views younger generations as a representation of childish behavior. Cisneros wrote,“What they don't understand about birthdays and what they never tell you is that when you're eleven, you're also ten, and nine, and eight, and seven, and six, and five, and four, and three, and two, and one” (1). From the first word, "Eleven" introduces the reader to its unique take on the coming-of-age theme. People are all of their ages and …show more content…
Price puts the sweater on Rachel’s desk she wishes she was older so she would know what to say.Cisneros wrote, “Today I wish I was one hundred and two instead of eleven because if I was one hundred and two I'd have known what to say when Mrs. Price put the red sweater on my desk” (1). Rachel associates are getting older with authority and knowing what to do in a situation. Part of the irony of this story is that people who are closer to that age know this isn't always the case. In eleven it is said, "Of course it's yours," Mrs. Price says. "I remember you wearing it once." Because she's older and the teacher, she's right, and I'm not” (1). Mrs. Price makes the same mistake as Rachel and assumes being right and being older go hand-in-hand. Again, this isn't necessarily the case. Younger people can be just as right as an older person. The only prerequisite for being correct is, well, being
Imagine it’s your 11th birthday, an exciting event that should be fun and happy, but it turns out to be depressing and disgraceful. Well, that is what happened to the main character, Rachel from Eleven. Rachel is forced to wear an ugly red sweater that isn't hers which makes her cry. She repeatedly wishes she were wiser than eleven because she doesn't know how to respond to her situation properly. Similes and repetition contribute to the depressing mood of Eleven by Sandra Cisneros.
The diction that Cisneros uses is descriptive. Her words help explain Rachel’s feelings more in depth. In the opening line of “Eleven” it states, “what they don’t understand about birthdays and what they never tell you is when you’re eleven, you’re also ten, and nine, and eight, and seven, and six, and five, and four, and three, and two and one.” From this quote Cisneros paints a picture of how Rachel feels about turning eleven. She shows an idea of how Rachel will be acting throughout most of the story. Not only does Cisneros use that lin...
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.
...own choices and the uncertainty that accompanies growing up. Rachel Marsh is a twelve year old indentured servant at the beginning of this novel. She is as lucky in her establishment as she is ill-fated in her sole remaining family member, the crucial, predictable, corrupt and wicked uncle. She is (and was in reality) the nursemaid to John and Abigail Adams. Abigail, an intelligent and forward thinking woman, mentors the young Rachel with books and unfettered opinions. While she is on her quest “to better herself,” she meets up with many of the pivotal figures of the Boston Massacre, such as Henry Knox, Samuel Adams and Paul Revere. Central to Rachel’s saga is her friendship with a young redcoat who becomes involved in the Massacre, causing Rachel even more confusion as she makes her mind up about liberty, civil actions and personal and national freedom and identity.
The major conflict in the play, Nine Ten by Warren Leight is jury duty. The first thing people think when they hear the words “jury duty” is sitting in a courthouse all day and night disagreeing whether a person is guilty or innocent. For most, the immediate thought when getting that letter out of the mailbox is that they do not have time. Their lives are full enough with running the kids to school and to after school activities. Their next thought may be, ‘but I’m going out of town soon’, just because a select few are going to jury duty does not mean that time will stand still and wait for their duty to be done. The last thing to cross most people’s mine, is that jury duty is a right, a civic duty, to allow a fellow man to speak to a member of his peers. However, just because most people dislike jury duty does not mean everyone does, some people may take great pride in deciding the fate of another person.
"I'm too old to keep a dog," she says to the dogcatcher as he is leaving with a brown fice that showed up on her doorstep. "Besides, I'm slowing down," she says to her son during lunch. The stereotypes of the elderly are influencing Mattie's life. She is telling herself not to do things because of her age whether or not she is physically able to do them, simply because people associate age with inability and dependence upon others. Her family and friends are expecting and encouraging this dependence.Elaine and Robert, Mattie's two unmarried children, along with other family and friends, are encouraging her to be what they expect a seventy-eight year old woman to be. They talk about how she needs to get rest because she is slowing down and can't keep going as steady as she seems to think. When she decided to try and help a young juvenile, Wesley Benfield, become a better person by taking him to church and offering him to stay the night with her, Robert thought that Mattie was sick.
The novel “The Outsiders,” by S.E. Hinton can be defined as an emotional, heart breaking, and lesson teaching story. Ponyboy Curtis and Johnny Cade were the youngest in their gang of Greasers. They were all wild boys, who liked looking “tuff” and being known as criminals. Ponyboy and Johnny were not as intimidating as the other greasers, Two-Bit Mathews, Dallas Winston, Darrel Curtis, Sodapop Curtis, and Steve Randle. One night, Ponyboy and Johnny were both out on the street. Out of nowhere some drunken Socs began to chase and beat up the boys. One of the Socs was drowning Ponyboy in a fountain. Johnny saw the danger Ponyboy was in and pulled out his switchblade. He stabbed Bob Sheldon and killed him. The boys did not know what to do, so they ran away to Windrixville, and lived in an abandoned church. They cut their hair and Ponyboy bleached his. Eventually the boys came to their senses and planned to turn themselves in. Dallas came to pick the boys up, but first they went to Dairy Queen to eat. When they drove back to the church they noticed that the church was on fire. Ponyboy and Johnny forced themselves into the church to save the children stuck inside. Ponyboy ended up with a minor concoction and some small burns on his back. While Johnny was not as lucky, an extremely large, heavy, and blazing hot piece of wood fell on him. Both boys were sent to the hospital. Johnny remained in the hospital much longer than Ponyboy. Johnny felt weaker and weaker every day and was getting worse by the minute. After a long and depressing journey, Johnny passed away. Therefore, their group of Greasers would now be presented with how loss and grief could drive people into making illogical decisions.
Society today is very different from society years ago. Society back then didn’t really tell or picture girls to have the perfect body, perfect hair, perfect legs, or perfect anything. Today society has been influencing lots of girls that they have to have the perfect hair, skin, legs, face, etc. Which means girls can’t have any acne, have wrinkles even at age 20, they can’t have any hair in there legs or armpits because that is considered “gross”. In the story “I Want to Be Miss America”, Julia Alvarez introduces her theme, changing into someone else won’t mean there's two of them cause everyone is different, by have the sisters develop more character development by making them become more envy of the contestants because of their looks.
The American Dream is to be able to contribute, make your voice be heard, and for everyone to have equal rights. The dream is possible because hard work help accomplish
ThThe notion of getting older, one day has too frightened me. I wonder what could I have done in the past to change the future. I reminisce of all the things I have done with the people that I love. But, at the end the day, I look forward to getting older. I look forward to the memories that I will make, which one day will be stories told between two friends or family members about their crazy grandmother Gabriella. E.B. White 's essay represents the fears that adults, but mostly parents, face when seeing children grow up and experience life the same way they once did. These nostalgic moments turn to fear of losing their youth. I believe that White 's essay is a manifestation of a mid-life crisis that fails to show what life has to offer after
At this point of the story it is reflective of a teenager. A teenager is at a time in life where boundaries and knowledge is merely a challenging thing to test and in some instances hurdled. Where even though you may realize the responsibilities and resources you have, there is still a longing for the more sunny feelings of youth.
No matter race, background or time period, every child goes through the drastic change from childhood to adulthood that we know of as “coming of age.” Since the topic of coming of age is so widespread and relatable, it is a very common theme in novels. In fact, many American classics follow the archetype known as loss of innocence, which displays the change in views and values of a child during this time period. Childhood is hard enough how it is, but during certain time periods and in certain locations, it can be exceptionally difficult; an example of this stressed hardship is the Deep South during the times of segregation and The Great Depression. One American classic that follows this archetype is To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee; in this narrative, she shows a dramatic change in Scout and Jem’s understanding of courage and empathy with the help of their father, Atticus, as they mature in the Deep South.
At the age of 9, a little girl is counting down the days until her next birthday because double digits are a big deal. Now she is 12 and is still counting the days until she can call herself a teenager. For years people cannot wait to be another year older… until they actually become older. As people grow up they accept that maturing means taking on responsibilities and adulthood. Having sleepovers and play-dates, taking naps, and climbing the monkey bars becomes taboo. The simplistic life of a child quickly changes into the dull reality of school and work. People will spend years wishing they were older; but when the time comes, they hope to go back to their innocence. In The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger writes a stream of consciousness
In the poem “What Are Years,” written by Marianne Moore there are two poetic devices being used in order to convey the meaning of the poem. Through the use of different figures of speech and unique forms, she discusses the different life stages a person experiences. The entire poem is based on powerful metaphors used to discuss the emotions and feelings through each of the stages. For example, she states “The very bird/grown taller as he sings, steels/ his form straight up. Though he is captive (20-22).”
In the short story “Being There”, by Jerzy Kosinski, there are multiple examples of satire that are displayed throughout both the book and the movie. A few of them are: media, death, politics, and racism. The satire of the media was very similar in the book and the movie. Media played a big role in society and still does to this day.