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The summary of story eleven by Sandra Cisneros
Anytical essay ON ELEVEN by sandra cisneros
The summary of story eleven by Sandra Cisneros
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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. 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 …show more content…
Much of the imagery described within this piece stems from the mind of Rachel. Specifically, when Rachel is handed the sweatshirt, she believes it “smells like cottage cheese” (Cisneros 17). The smell that she describes portrays her in a childlike manner because of the simplicity behind her description. The lack of maturity is also noted when she finally touches her unwanted sweatshirt that is “itchy and full of germs” (Cisneros 17). The way in which the sweatshirt is described creates an idea in the reader’s head of the sweatshirt while also getting a picture of Rachel’s opinion. The lack of depth into her description of the sweatshirt exhibits a lack of understanding for the situation by
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 ...
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
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
This is one of my favorite parts of the novel, seeing the main character, James, grow up with his mother Rachel. In summary, the author tells the story of both his mother, and himself growing up. His mother was raised Jewish, but became Christian before James was born, which was thus the religion he was raised in. Both had very strict discipline, in their respective religions. The memoir focuses more on Rachel, who grows up in a Jewish family living in a country and area where Jews are not well received.
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.
“Eleven”, narrated by the young main character, uses first person and a minimal amount of second person to relate to readers and allow them to put themselves in the story. These particular points of view also provide readers understanding into how an eleven-year-old may feel. Likewise, Collier uses first person in her short story “Marigolds” to not only provide a connection for readers, but also to show the transition from childishness into adulthood in Lizabeth’s life. Her overall goal is not to allow readers to put themselves in the story, but rather for them to learn from and possibly change because of the story. She closes her story with this poignant sentence “one does not have to be ignorant or poor to find that his life is as barren as the dusty yards of our town” (11), providing the big picture perspective of what she wants to accomplish through her story. Point of view in stories allows authors to fully achieve their purpose in writing the story whether by causing readers to identify with the characters through second person and first person as in “Eleven” or to leave readers contemplating their lives and wanting to learn from the character through first
In “Eleven” by Sandra Cisneros actually touched me because I understand where the main character is coming from. Wishing you could be older because of the situation you’re in nobody believes you and you can’t do anything about it because they are older than you and have more authority over you. Then when you were right in the situation they don’t want to own up to their mistakes. We can tell this because of the quote, “I take it off right away and give it to her, only Mrs. Price pretends like everything’s okay.” The fact that the day was her birthday really makes it worse because who would want to spend their day being yelled at by their teacher and being humiliated in front of the class for something they were right about the whole time. It’s quite sad really and you wonder why the teacher didn’t believe her, like i'm pretty sure she know’s if that was her sweater or not
Children have often been viewed as innocent and innocent may be a nicer way to call children naive. Since children’s lives are so worry free they lack the knowledge of how to transition from being a child to becoming an adolescent. Their lack of knowledge may be a large part of their difficulties growing up, which could be a few rough years for many. In books like the boy in the striped pajamas the story is told from the point of view of a little boy, this way we get a full view of how innocent he is. In this book the writer shows the reader first hand how a child viewed the holocaust and how his innocence cost him his life. Then in books like the perks of being a wallflower Charlie is a teen whom is struggling with the transition from being a child to becoming an adolescent. In this book the writer gives a first hand look at how difficult it can be to transition into an adolescent. Charlie has many difficulties in this book; he is in search of his identity and how to fit in.
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.
In the story "Woman Hollering Creek" Sandra Cisneros describes the problems with living as a married woman. Cleofilas marries man who abuses her mentally as well as physically .Cisneros talks about the way society makes such a difference between a male and female, how men are superior to women."Woman Hollering Creek" is easily one of the best examples in proving the struggles of a woman. Cleofilas, who grows up without a mother and has no one to teach her and give her advise about life ,it is truly inspiring.
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,
Expectations are natural to have when events in our lives are left up to chance. It can give us hope and build our passion, but that is not always the case. In “Woman Hollering Creek” by Sandra Cisneros, the Mexican protagonist, Cleófilas, is excited to move to Seguin, Texas with her husband in order to find passion and love similar to that in the books, songs, and telenovelas she obsesses over. However, she was kept from becoming the dimensional woman she dreamed of because of the patriarchal figures in her life, particularly her husband; she instead followed traditional cultural values that taught her men were more dominant than women in society, a woman was meant to become a mother and a housewife, and a woman’s dream is far from reality.
Berger, K. S. (2012). The developing person: through childhood and adolescence. (9th ed.). New York, NY: Worth Publishers.
The story is told by the main character Vanessa who is reflecting back on a memory of when she was ten. Throughout the short story plot, conflict, character, theme, and symbol, which are all extremely important elements of fiction, are depicted. The plot of the short
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...