Can you imagine being embarrassed in front of the whole class from your teacher, on your birthday? In Sandra Cisneros’s short story, “Eleven” this is exactly what happened to the main character, Rachel. She is very shy and has enough on her plate on not having any friends at all but the teacher decides to make it even worse for her. Even on her birthday with nobody to stand up for her make it even worse! All Rachel wants to do is just keep a calm life, not noticed and in her world but that is very much changed one day. In the story, “Eleven” by Sandra Cisneros, Rachel learns that she needs to stay strong and never give in. As shown by the teacher forcing her to do stuff she doesn’t want to do. She wants to stand up for herself and above all, she wants to change the way she reacts to tough situations.
The first reason why Rachel wants to stay strong and never give up is because in the story the teacher keeps forcing her to do stuff she doesn’t want to do. So if she had this skill of staying strong and never giving in than that could easily be prevented. For example “Rachel” Mrs Price says. She says it like she's getting mad. “You put that sweater on right now and no more nonsense.”(2) This shows that the teacher is forcing the sweater on her and
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For example, Rachel has been holding in all of those tears since this morning and then out of an instance. “I’m crying in front of everyone.”(3) This shows that getting embarrased is one of the most hated things that everybody doesn’t like. Also she is showing weakness and failure to the whole class probably going to stick with her until the end of the school year. Also in the story, “she wants today to be far far away” and that “everybody will sing happy birthday” but she thinks “it's to late.”(3) This shows that she needs to stay strong and instead of crying her heart out she can laugh along with the other
In the short story "Eleven" by Sandra Cisneros, a young girl named Rachel is characterized. Through a specific incident, Cisneros shows how Rachel does not act as old as eleven ideally should. Through repetition and metaphor, Cisneros alludes to Rachel?s personality and childish views.
Displaying one's emotions in public is often not planned nor wanted especially when it comes to crying due to humiliation and shame. In the short story “Eleven” by Sandra Cisneros, literary terms such as simile, diction, and repetition are utilized in characterizing emotional “eleven” year old Rachel. The figurative language used, support the images that were intended for the reader to perceive. Diction and repetition help guide the audience with a certain point of view towards the characters. Not only does Cisneros exploit these literary terms to explain and characterize Rachel's feelings but to exhibit how one may not always have the courage, personal strength, or maturity to handle certain situations.
No one would talk to her, recess was spent in anguish, and she would find garbage and spoiled food in her book bag. As she progressed into 5th grade, some of the social atmosphere began to shift in subtle but profound ways. Being accepted into a clique is all that matters. Instead of being admired for class participation, as in earlier years she was laughed at and labeled as “teacher’s pet.” She said the rules were simple “shun or be shunned—if you weren’t willing to go along with the crowd, you would become the reject.”
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
She’s just so weak. If she would stand up for herself, no one would bother her. It’s her own fault that people pick on her, she needs to toughen up. “Shape of a Girl” by Joan MacLeod, introduces us to a group of girls trying to “fit in” in their own culture, “school.” This story goes into detail about what girls will do to feel accepted and powerful, and the way they deal with everyday occurrences in their “world.” Most of the story is through the eyes of one particular character, we learn about her inner struggles and how she deals with her own morals. This story uses verisimilitude, and irony to help us understand the strife of children just wanting to fit in and feel normal in schools today.
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
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 and it makes you have sympathy for Rachel and all the things she is going through on her birthday.
During her teen years, she was abused and lonely. She gave birth to her first child when she was only sixteen years old. She was in her first marriage when she was only nineteen years old. After three children, two marriages, and a breakdown, she realizes that there is a lot more to life than her current circumstances.
story but also to show Rachel’s feelings throughout the story. As Rachel talks about her
...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.
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 childish because she cried over a sweater. Ms.Price and some classmates thought that a sweater from the lost and found was Rachels. Rachel shows her childishness when she says/does, “That’s when everything I’ve been holding in since this morning, since when Mrs. Price put the sweater on my desk, finally lets go, and all of a sudden I’m crying in front of everybody. “ (Cisnero.2) She is childish because she was crying.
Her story is one of true faith and endurance, but she has learned to maintain a strong and happy life. She has remained so happy, that Misto-C does not take into account what all Rachel has endured. This story is also a tale of dominancy and superiority. The narrator begins the story saying. “”Aunt Rachel”, was sitting respectfully below our level, on the steps. -
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.