Children have the tendency to be shy and introverted, but the character Rachel from the short story “Eleven” reaches a whole new peak. Sandra Cisneros writes Rachel in such a way that even if the readers did not understand the main idea of the short story, they would understand that Rachel is a measley, little girl who has trouble standing up for herself due to her young age. Rachel comes across as anxious and shy because she has the tendency to repeat words and because she has the tendency to repeat words and phrases in her thoughts, almost as if to say that she trying to convince herself or trying to win an argument by repeating the same thing over and over. When she says, “Not mine, not mine, not mine,” it demonstrates her level of
...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.
6 )The plot of this book is about a 10 year old Melody Brooks who has Cerebral Palsy. She can’t move or talk but, she is the smartest kid in her class. Throughout the book she gets bullied. She tries proving herself to her classmates by
At the age of ten, most children are dependent on their parents for everything in their lives, needing a great deal of attention and care. However, Ellen, the main character and protagonist of the novel Ellen Foster, exemplifies a substantial amount of independence and mature, rational thought as a ten-year-old girl. The recent death of her mother sends her on a quest for the ideal family, or anywhere her father, who had shown apathy to both she and her fragile mother, was not. Kaye Gibbons’ use of simple diction, unmarked dialogue, and a unique story structure in her first novel, Ellen Foster, allows the reader to explore the emotions and thoughts of this heroic, ten-year-old girl modeled after Gibbons’ own experiences as a young girl. Kaye Gibbons’ experiences as a child are the foundations for this.
Chicago Illinois on December 20th of 1954 was the birthplace of Sandra Cisneros. Her father is Alfredo Cisneros, a Mexican immigrant in the United States from Mexico City and her mother is a Mexican-American from ILLIONOIS. The couple had seven children and Sandra Cisneros is the only daughter in between six brothers, reason why she grew up as a lonely child but developing in her inner self the contribution to be a writer (Herrera-Sobek 2011, 9). In the fifties and sixties, the working-class Cisneros family moved many times because Alfred Cisneros had a deep relationship with his mother in Mexico, Sandra Cisneros’s grandmother (Herrera-Sobek 2011, 9). These events made Cisneros feel in a limbo between the American culture and the Mexican culture.
...sn’t happy living this famous life and that’d she be happier out of spotlight and living in as she would say the “real world” where she was free to be who she really is. By being a regular teenager, she knew that she would be able to make friends and feel comfortable with whom she was. She would find real friends who would actually care for her and people who she could really trust. Staying true to who you are should means living your life trying to please yourself and by becoming Rachel Rogers she was able to live effortlessly because there was no effort put trying to be someone she was not. She was able to finally be proud of who she was remember what a natural smile felt like. If she wasn’t able to stay true to herself she would of continued on living a miserable life and regretting the fact that there was a better one waiting for her outside the Hollywood world.
“This won’t sound like an earth-shattering pronouncement, but boys get funny around really hot girls. Rachel could tell the lamest jokes and boys fall about the place in laughter.”
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.
One of Miss Moore's defining qualities is her intelligence. Her academic skills and self-presentation is noticeable through her college degree and use of “proper speech” (Bambara, 385). Miss Moore also makes her intelligence evident from the methods she uses to teach Sylvia and the other children. Unlike planting them in classrooms, she takes them out on trips to show them the real world. Despite all the insults she receives from th...
Spark Notes Editors. “Spark Note on Diary of a Young Girl.” SparkNotes.com. Spark Notes LLC. 2003. Web. 17 Mar. 2011.
I chose to write about Only Daughter by Sandra Cisneros because I am the only daughter of three children. Therefore, I can relate to this essay because I constantly strive to make my father proud in everything that I do, along with feeling as though I am alone and not understood by my family. My father is constantly in the back of my mind so whatever I do revolves around how I know he would feel about it. Due to this I am more studious when it comes to my education because I know that he will be more supportive the better that I do. Without my dad I would not have come this far in what I have accomplished because I would not have had to prove myself to anyone. Being the first born and the only girl, my parents and family many times do not know how to handle how I feel or what I enjoy because I am more studious out of my entire family. Because of this I
Mericans was a short and straightforward story. The main character was a young female, Micaela, who was also the narrator, started off with very detail descriptions of the setting. Such stories always give its reader an idea of the author’s reason behind the story. Mericans is simply about a young girl who is in a conflict between two different cultural groups, America and Mexico. While, Eleven, is also short to the point conflicting story, however, the main character is conflicting between her. Eleven is about a little girl, Rachel, the narrator, who just turned eleven years old and wishes she were one hundred and two years of age instead. As she feels that turning eleven has no specific relevance. Comparing these two characters, they depict what most children feel towards adults, which is a certain type of frustration. Throughout the stories, its gives the readers some knowledge and detailed description of what the characters undergo.
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...
For first eight years of her life, Elaine Risley lived a nomadic lifestyle with her parents. When her father, and entomologist, accepts a job to work as a professor at a university, the family moves to Toronto. Everything is new to Elaine: school, sitting at a desk, straws, and especially real girls. Since her brother does not want to be teased for having a younger sister, Elaine is on her own. At first it is difficult
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”.
What we learn of the central character is considerable. Throughout the novel her dealings with those around her reveal her characteristics. As a child at Gateshead Hall we see that she is impulsive, often alarmingly so, but that she also can be sullen and withdrawn. Thse around her do not find her an easy child - she gives very little of herself away, especially to the Reed family, although there is a slight intimacy with the servant, Bessie. She is intelligent and precocious, preferring the make believe world of books to the harsh and often unsympathetic world of reality. She is also perceptive; knowing that the Reeds dislike her, yet not being quite sure why it should be so.She feels her social position as an outcast very keenly; ironically being unable, because of her breeding to form an attachment with Bessie. She is occasionally very angry, as when she lashes out at John Reed, and when she rounds on Mrs Reed after the Red Room incident. She is also afraid and insecure, but tries very hard not to let anyone see this side of her character. it is only at times of great stress that she gives way to fear (Red Room), but note that usually she has, even at the early age of ten, great self-control for most of the time.