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Eleven sandra cisneros literary techniques
An essay on child psychology and child development
An essay on child psychology and child development
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"I think growing up is difficult and it's a process that I'm always interested in, with kids and adults, they are often on two different universes." This quote by Alice Hoffman, an American novelist, captures the theme of the story “Eleven,” by Sandra Cisneros. On her eleventh birthday, Rachel, the narrator, is confused by the multifarious childish, and tween-like emotions that Rachel feels, and as a result, she presents the demeanor of a child more than that of a tween. Rachel’s day starts to go awry when, Mrs. Price, her teacher, holds up “an ugly sweater with red plastic buttons and a collar and sleeves all stretched out like you could use it for a jump rope. It’s maybe a thousand years old and even if it belonged to me I wouldn’t say so” (Cisneros 1). By just looking at the sweater, Rachel already feels a strong sense of bitterness directed to it, which is child-like. Young children often dislike something without even knowing any information about it. Many children often try to …show more content…
Price forces Rachel to put the sweater on, and she then bursts into tears. "That's when everything I've been holding in since this morning, since Mrs. Price put the sweater on my desk, finally lets go, and all of a sudden I'm crying in front of everybody" (Cisneros 2). She buries her head into her "stupid clown-sweater arms" (Cisneros 2) and sits down on the desk to try and hide her face. Rachel shows a childish demeanor because many young children often cry when they don’t get what they want. In this story, Rachel cries because of her inability to get what she asks for: to not have anything to do with the ugly sweater. Later in the story, Rachel wishes that she weren’t eleven because all the years bottled up inside her, from "ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, and one--are pushing at the back of my eyes” (Cisneros 2). This quote shows that Rachel has more childish years inside of her, and therefore displays them more often than her tween
Throughout their early life, children feel oppressed by their parents. From being constantly nagged to being misunderstood, children can feel that their parents dislike them. With screams and threats, with lions lurking, Ray Bradbury utilizes foreshadowing and symbolism to uncover those dark feelings that dwell within a child.
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 ...
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.
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
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
Growing up is an extremely complicated and deep subject for just about everyone. The story “Marigolds” displays this throughout its plot. “Marigolds” tells about a young girl living in a rough situation, and how she breaks from her innocence and begins to understand reality. There are extremely different emotions that go along with innocence and maturity. Hearing Lizabeth's reactions and thought about her journey through growing up shows how maturation is a both beautiful and ugly.
Around the age of 11 to 14, children are typically seen as no good preteens who do not need to be fed any more fuel to their anti authority behavior. Children within this age group are typically found on a confusing path of finding their own identity. From the time they were born, they had their parents, or guardian to be around the corner to help with any confusing moment. Around ages 11 to 14, children are seeking to become young adults, and they feel as if they have to do it on their own. With literature, educators and parents can still guide the children to the right path of being coming a proper young adult.
As well she responds to most situations with a maturity most adults’ lack. These books all describe how the adult world is often complicated and difficult, as well as full of lies, deceit, and phoney people. The books also describe how sometimes an innocent child’s opinion can be smarter than a full grown
story but also to show Rachel’s feelings throughout the story. As Rachel talks about her
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.
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,
Berger, K. S. (2012). The developing person: through childhood and adolescence. (9th ed.). New York, NY: Worth Publishers.
“Growing up” is a very broad term that is used without a true, consistent definition. In essence, it describes and encompasses themes of coming of age and the loss of innocence as a person moves from child to adult. In many respects, people view this change as a specific, pivotal moment in a person’s life, such as an eighteenth birthday, or the day a person leaves their parents’ house. This idea of having a crucial moment in life, which provides the open door into adulthood, is portrayed in many novels. It is easy to find a death that occurs, or a specific event that causes a character to “grow up” prematurely, but many times, contrary to most beliefs, that exact event is not the turn of the key leading through the doors to maturity. It is rather just a small push which starts a domino effect. This is the same scenario in the novel All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy. This novel proves that loss of innocence is a learning process rather than the result of a
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...
Being a dad’s only daughter is by far one of the greatest things in this world I believe. In Sandra Cisneros essay “Only Daughter”, she tends to believe that living life, as the only daughter in her family may not be one of the greatest situations. Throughout her essay she describes how she feels in great depth from her personal point of view. As the only daughter in the family out of six brothers, Sandra knew she needed some motivation in her life. Being the only daughter in a family can have many affects on a person, including making them spend time alone, having high expectations, and holding a specific destiny in life.