Characterization of Rachel Through the Use of Literary Techniques in Cisneros’ Eleven

The most important lesson for Rachel that comes out of this situation is that after wearing the disgusted sweater she has become even older, and it was tied to the experience instead of the birthday itself. She understands that it is the challenge she needs to grow up faster as she will receive additional benefits of behaving the way she wants and resisting to the outside irritators. As for the literature techniques, the author applies language, diction and symbolism to reveal the issues of experience, aging, knowledge, power, authority and freedom. The discovering is gaining age are conveyed with the help of the memories of eleven-year-old girl on her birthday. Rachel resists her humiliation from Mrs. Pierce, and that is the exact moment when her “smart eleven” comes as well[2].

We hear of her moving to New York to escape her life as a child bride after being orphaned at a young age. This story allows the audience to gain a sense of sympathy for Holly, and enhances the pathos of the story. This pathos puts the audience into the shoes of Holly and enables them to understand the reasoning behind her escape. The use of language features like pathos and literary allusion allow the authors of both texts to convey the theme of escapism.

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.

The friends of the narrator, however, do not hide in the imaginary world of childhood and are maturing into adolescents. Sally, “ screamed if she got her stockings muddy,” felt they were too old to “ the games” (paragraph 9). Sally stayed by the curb and talked to the boys (paragraph 10).

Although the daughter’s shame in her mother is evident, she is also prideful of her as well. The strong love that the mother and daughter share is pervasive throughout the story. The story is being told by the daughter after she is all grown up. The fact that Jones uses such vivid detail on the mother’s preparation for her daughters first day of school shows that the daughter loved her mom and all that she did for her. The daughter recalls that her mother spent a lot of time preparing her when she says, “My mother has uncharacteristically spent nearly an hour on my hair that morning, plaiting and replaiting so that now my scalp tingles.” (Jones) She also remembers that her “pale green slip and underwear are new, the underwear having come three to a plastic package with a little girl on the front who appears to be dancing.” (Jones) The daughter having remembered details like these illustrate that she has an immense love and takes pride

This memoir has very deep meaning in its choices of words and various details that make the memoir more interesting and helps there be more of a connection between the text and the reader. You can even see the use of some of the ninth grade expectations in this piece. This includes syntax, Connotation, and imagery. Syntax is used in this piece by creating pauses and emphasis using punctuation on certain phrases to make the reader feel the effect. Connotation is also used carefully in the writing in certain words to make a phrase or word have a strong effect on the reader. Imagery is also used several times, as it

, she is giving the readers a way she knows how to describe her feelings. This shows her character because its her describing her feelings in a personal way. The point-of-view of the story helps to characterize Rachel. By the story being in Rachel’s point-of-view, the reader gets first person responses to events.

Cisneros benefits from her usage of voice to show how Rachel, the main character, struggles with growing up and to help readers relate to her. Rachel describes that “when you wake up you expect to feel eleven, but you don’t” (Cisneros 1). Explaining how she doesn’t feel a year older on her birthday, she says that she expects to. This shows how eager she is to grow up, but she’s impatient at the thought of it. However, although she wishes to be older, growing up doesn’t happen all at once. Rachel also illustrates how she’s eleven, but she says “I wish I was one hundred and two” (Cisneros

60) Although Rachel is not the only “other” in her class, as is evident by the names of the students she mentions, Lopez and Saldivar, she is nonetheless one of ‘the other’ as is evidenced by the teacher’s treatment of her. As a result, Mrs. Price has robbed Rachel of her innocence, and for this wound, there is no Band-Aid, the symbolic container for the eleven pennies representing her meager eleven years. Anzaldua further elucidates the attainment and subsequent development of la facultad: “Confronting anything that tears at the fabric of our everyday mode of consciousness and thrusts us into a less literal and more psychic sense of reality increases

The next two times Cisneros presents the reader with a simile is to reference the red sweater. After the teacher had put the sweater on Rachel’s desk, she talks about feeling sick and wanting that feeling to go away, but when she opens her eyes and, “the red sweater’s still sitting there like a big red mountain” (n.p.), she begins to think about how to get rid of the sweater. Before she is able to accomplish this Mrs. Price notices how, “it’s hanging over the edge like a waterfall” (n.p.), and demands that Rachel put the sweater on. After this incident, Rachel buries her face in her, “stupid clown-sweater arms” (n.p.). As mentioned earlier the collar and sleeves of the sweater are stretched out. The last use of similes and metaphors in, “Eleven,” is found in the last sentence of the story- “ I want today to be far away already, far away like a runaway balloon, like a tiny o in the sky, so tiny tiny you have to close your eyes to see it” (n.p.). Cisneros is comparing the distance a balloon will travel away from its owner to the distance she wishes this day was away from her.

Using descriptive language, she writes “several thousand little girls will be working in textile mills, all the night through, in the deafening noise of the spindles and the loons spinning and weaving cotton and wool, silks and ribbons for us to buy”(ln.18-22). Adding a visual image into the audience’s minds, Kelley shows how the children in labor are forced into harsh conditions to survive because of the lack of child labor laws. In addition, she describes “a little girl, on her thirteenth birthday, could start away from her home at half past five in the afternoon, carrying her pail of midnight luncheon…”(ln.48-50). Using this description, Kelley indicates that children should not be working late into the night which evokes the feeling of sympathy from the audience. With these examples, Kelley calls forth the feeling of pity and guilt from the audience when they learn that they are allowing children to force themselves into harsh

The idioms of everyday American speech in a middle-class domestic situation are used in showing the events and relationships of the Berlin family. In contrast to the conversations of Becca and Stan, usually presented as straight dialogue, the discussions among the three sisters are conventionally presented, often with “she said” and other interpolations to give explicitly the emotional level of the sister’s disagreements. Madga, the Polish student who acts as Becca’s guide to the death camp site speaks fluent English but at times awkward English “Oh, they are much in appreciation” she says when given a pair of jeans. Contrast between the formal, traditional language of the fairy tale and childish, informal chatter is shown when the children comment or question as Gemma proceeds with her Briar Rose fairy tale story telling. Her contrast revisiting of just this one fairy tale shows the reader that while her conscious memory has buries the details of her past horrors, she cannot help returning to the fairy tale allegory. Contrast is also shown between the warm, happy imagery of life in the Berlin house and the bleak, harsh details of the holocaust.

In the text it states "I moved the red sweater to the corner of my desk with my ruler." This shows that Rachel acted like a child because only children like to move weird or discusting things with something that's not their hand. Also, this shows that Rachel was scared of touch the sweater because she felt embaressed by Mrs.Price.

Miss Moore finally leads the kids to the toy store. The are immediately dazzled by the toys in the windows; even declaring which ones they were gonna buy. The children seemed to know they couldn't afford the toys, but they didn't think they would be off by much. The once brave and proud and strong children were hobbled at the door, none of which wanting to go in first. Here is the point where they get slapped in the face. Here is where they first see that they do not belong here. Eventually one of them pushes through the crowd and throws herself into the gallery of toys. They go around gazing at the different objects. Miss Moore drives the point home by leading them to the fact

She used F.A.O. Schwarz, a very expensive toy store, to teach them a lesson and inspire them to strive for success and attempt to better themselves and their situations. The extreme differences between the children 's neighborhood and the neighborhood of the toy store are first illustrated by the fact that the white people on Fifth Avenue wear furs and stockings even on a hot summer 's day. “Then we check out that we on Fifth Avenue and everybody dressed up in stockings. One lady in a fur coat, hot as it is”(Bambara 99). The children are thrown off balance in this neighborhood, as if it were a foreign country where even the approach to temperature is different.