Essay
The author of the short story eleven Sandra Cisneros was most likely influenced to write the story by the thought of growing up throughout life without really deciphering every exact moment in your life, such as being confident and calm. In the short story eleven, the protagonist Rachel is a young girl who has recently turned eleven. From the beginning Rachel talks about age as a sort of phase or moment in your life. Rachel tries to even explain that people are sort of a result of their past experiences. Rachel the protagonist states to the audience that although she's eleven she states that she will occasionally have a certain age reaction, usually an age you've already passed. She explains that if she acts silly or foolish it's her
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Rachel states during the sweater event that she is suddenly “feeling sick inside…” and that the “part of her that's three wants to come out of her eyes…” This sort of means that physical actions have to do with age. Like her eyes are sort of mirrors expressing whatever she’s feeling and in this case the three year old in her that wants to cry. Rachel had to squeeze her eyes shut to hide her three year old moment. She then states that she wish’s she wasn’t eleven, although she doesn’t realize that age wouldn’t help her out at all. This is a sort of realization that being older would mean pushing to get out of your younger and past age moments. Rachel is conveying about how the cottage cheese smell won’t go away from her sweater. Rachel continues to cry and has a realization that not only does her mom have certain moments where else she che cries which is her three moment, but actually starts to accept who she really is. It's sort of like a coming of age or in more simple terms growing
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.
Rachel is the oldest daughter in the Price family, she is fifteen when the family first arrives. Rachel is a beautiful girl, and pretty much all she cares about is how she looks. As soon as she stepped foot in the Congo,
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 ...
Ellen just felt a distant sadness. Ellen cried just a little bit. Her grandmother was furious because Ellen showed some emotions. She told her to never cry again. After that Ellen becomes scarred for a long time.
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
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.
The youth are acknowledged for having innocence, and witnessing certain events can take it away. In Sarah’s Key by Tatiana De Rosnay experiences cause innocence to be lost. Losing freedom affects an individual personality, making the person more mature. Losing hope causes an individual to change their views on life. A person’s family dying causes a lifetime of pain. When experiencing a horrible event, one should not let it change them.
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
Through Rachel, who represents a naïve American who is insecure by making her own choices, Lawrence and Lee argue that Americans can be open to new perspectives and empower themselves with confidence. Rachel starts employing stress on herself when she is conflicted by Bert’s and her father’s thoughts on evolution before the trial. Furthermore, Rachel describes her conflicted way of thinking, “Wake up, Sleeping Beauty” (1.1.34). Rachel is called “sleeping beauty” because she is told to think for herself. Unfortunately, she is torn by her clashing thoughts between Cates and her father. She has to decide whether to support Cates...
Writing in the 20th century was great deal harder for a Chicano then it was for a typical American at this time. Although that did not stop this author, Sandra Cisneros. One of her famous novels, Woman Hollering Creek was a prime example of how a combined culture: Mexican-Americans, could show their pride and identity in this century. In conjunction, gave the opportunity for women to speak their voice and forever change the culture of Latino/a markets. Not only did it express identity/gender roles of women and relationships, but using these relationships to combine the cultures of Mexican and American into a hybrid breed. This novel, should have been a view-point for the future to show that there is more to life than just gender and race. Concluding this, the articles that helps define this is “The Latino/a Canon and the Emergence of Post-Sixties Literature” and “What is called Heaven”.
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
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
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.