Turning Points I’m sure you have had a life changing experience once in your life that was difficult to face. The idea of life changing experiences was showed in Hatchet by Gary Paulsen, Dragonwings by Laurence Yep, and Eleven By Sandra Cisneros. Brian, from Hatchet, Moon Shadow, from Dragonwings and Rachel from Eleven all faced life-changing experiences that had a direct impact on their lives. Brian faced loneliness and hunger when he was stranded on a deserted island. In the text, Brian thinks, "The father home of the mother home. He stopped thinking. It didn't matter. Either on to his dad or back to his mother”(pg. 5). In other words, Brian was thinking of the fact that despite his parents being divorced, they still love him, gives him hope that he might still be rescued. Loneliness impacted Brian's life due to the fact that he was the only one on the island, which is something he probably has never faced before.Also, …show more content…
according to the text, "Brian had once had an English teacher, a guy named Perpich, who was always talking about being positive, staying on top of things. That's how Perpich had put it- stay on top of things. Brian thought of him now- wondered how to stay positive and stay on top of this"(pg. 7). This means, Brian thought of his teacher pushing him to stay positive, despite his situation. Facing hunger on the deserted island, which was significant to the changes in his life since he is left with nothing but his hatchet, meaning he had nothing to save him from starvation. While Brian was stranded on a deserted island, he faced loneliness and hunger. Moon Shadow dealt with his father moving away, and the fear of the country he moved to, America. Based on the text, "To tell the truth, I knew as little about my father as I knew about the Land of the Golden Mountains"(pg. 21), he knows little to nothing about his father. His father moved away, and Moon Shadow feels curious about what type of person his father was. This had shows the importance it had on his life changes, since Moon Shadow doesn't know his father because he moved to a different country. In the text, the author states, "My own grandfather had been lynched about thirty years before by a mob of white demons almost the moment he set foot on their shores"(pg. 20). In addition, he fears the country in which the "white demons" live, America. This had an affected his life, because his grandfather had been killed in the country his father is currently at. Because his father is no longer in China, Moon Shadow has to deal with fearing the country, America, and his father moving away. Rachel experienced growing older and having to take control of her emotions.
The author states, "Today I wish I was one hundred and two, I'd have known what to say when Mrs.Price put the red sweater on my desk. I would have known how to tell her it wasn't mine..."(pg. 45). This sentence clearly shows that Rachel thinks that the with age comes the ability to handle situations such as the one she experienced. The fact that Rachel experienced growing older changed her life is because she realizes that just because she is older, does not mean that instantly gets the wisdom to handle difficult situations. Secondly, based on the author's words, "I wish I was invisible, but I'm not. I'm eleven and it's my birthday and I'm crying like I'm three in front of everybody"(pg. 47), she needed to take control of her emotions. Her experience had an impact on her life since Rachel was unable to handle her emotions, causing her to want her birthday to be far away. Turning eleven allowed Rachel To experience growing older, and having to charge her
emotions. Life changing experiences is something Brian, Moon Shadow, and Rachel had to deal with. Brian faced hunger and loneliness, Moon Shadow dealt with his father moving to America, and Rachel had emotional from coming of age. When life changes direction, they faced difficulties that lead to success in the end.
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...
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...
Brian’s life is already very hard, as he lives with his mother, a single woman, far away from his father. Brian’s parents are going through a very bitter divorce, which pulls Brian between both parents (Saurino). The pilot of the airplane suffers a heart attack, and Brian must make a difficult decision (Sutherland). He must decide whether to land the plane early, to avoid flying too far away from help, or to keep the plane flying and use the pilots radio to call for help. Eventually, Brian decides to land the plane in the Canadian wilderness.
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
Immigrants' lives become very difficult when they move to a new country. They are often discriminated against due to their race and/ or nationality. This problem occurs many times throughout Dragonwings, a book by Laurence Yep. In his book, the Chinese characters who immigrate to America face many challenges in their new lives. They are thought of as inferior, have to endure many hardships, and become lonely due to the fact that they must leave the majority of their families in China. In this book, the immigrants face multiple difficulties and challenges in the new world they know as the Land of the Golden Mountain.
Have you ever had a life changing moment? In the stories Hatchet, Island of the Blue Dolphins, and The Father of Chinese Aviation the main characters all experienced life changing events. In Hatchet, Brian survives a plane crash after the pilot dies of a heart attack. In Island of the Blue Dolphins, Karana is left to survive on her own when the rest of her tribe is killed. In The Father of Chinese Aviation, Feng Ru brings aviation to China. All of these characters encountered events that changed their lives forever.
Everyone has had that one moment, or maybe a couple. The moment when their life changes forever, the moments when they know they will never be the same person they were yesterday. These moments are turning points that play a large role in a person’s identity.
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
When someone tells you they have experienced something "life changing" what lingers through your mind? Mine is November 10, 2010 12:04pm; This was the first 24 hour period when my mother’s ability to act single-handedly on her health became theoretical; Failing to recall whether she took her pills in the morning was no longer acceptable. My mother had undergone a surgery due to various cancerous cells that grew in both her thyroids. Having removed the right and left side, doctors informed her after this procedure she must consume two white pills everyday, for the rest of her life. The purpose of these pills
Rachel does not turn for direction in her soul, but turns to her body instead, leaving her to be egocentric. If something doesn’t interest Rachel, it doesn’t matter to her. For example, when Ruth May died, the rest of the family handled the death badly, compared to Rachel, who seemed upset only because she wouldn’t be able to forget the Congo, and will continue to have memories of it. This is ironic, considering that Rachel does not show any interest in the Congo, but now she will have to have it haunt her for the rest of her
Have you experienced depression, anxiety, loss, crisis, or traumatic events, such as divorce or death, in your life or in the life of your family? Briefly describe this event(s). How did you cope with it? What effect(s) did it have on you and/or your family? How has this event(s) changed your life? From our readings in this dimension, what would Parker Palmer say is the value of these experiences?
Have you ever been in a life-changing accident? Have you ever contracted a life-threatening virus? Have you ever experienced something that changed your life forever? Bouncing back from any of these experiences can be very difficult. One has to push forward and use positive thinking to be able to overcome such life-changing experiences. One must build resilience. Resilience is the process of adapting well in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats or significant sources of stress — such as family and relationship problems, serious health problems or workplace and financial stressors (apa.org). It means "bouncing back" from difficult experiences (apa.org). Having a life-changing experience should not stop one from living his/her life. One should always keep moving forward no matter how difficult it may seem. One should also try to be more optimistic by looking at the bright side of things.
An Event which changed my life, well when, I think back on my life there’s