Hey, pretend it’s your eleventh birthday and everything is going very well. Then all a sudden something terrible happens and you're in the middle of it. Want to hear more? Keep reading and find out! In Eleven, author Sandra Cisneros reveals a theme: Coming of age. Thus, this story is about Rachel, expecting to feel eleven but she doesn’t. Although, This story takes place in the classroom when Ms. Price claimed that an ugly sweater was Rachel’s. For example, The main character, Rachel, has a conflict when she says, “when you’re eleven, you’re also ten, and nine, and eight, and seven, and six, and five, and four, and three, and two, and one.” Based on this, we can see that Rachel has point when she says when your eleven you all the ages you were before. From that quote, there’s a meaning were the ages you were before still reflects on you, such …show more content…
Price, asked who this ugly red sweater was for and Rachel responded, “Not me”, sounding like a three-year-old. No one can remember who the sweater was for, so Sylvia Saldivar says, “I think it belongs to Rachel.” Not knowing who it was for Ms. Price believes her. When Sylvia said that Ms. Price put the sweater on Rachel’s desktop, Rachel came out with a response saying, “ “That’s not, I don’t, you’re not…Not mine.” sounds like a four-year-old trying to get their words out. For Ms. Price to not know who the sweater is for she still let Rachel have it because she’s always right and the student is wrong. Then, Rachel cries when Ms. Price told her to put the sweater on because she keeps pushing it at the corner of her desk. The other reason why she cries is that it had germs on it that didn’t belong to her. She felt like a two-year-old crying in front of the class and her friends. Sooner or later, The owner of the red sweater, Phyllis Lopez remembers that the sweater is hers. Rachel shoved the sweater off and gave it to Phyllis, Ms. Price acted like everything was okay, which
In the text, Sylvia Saldivar accuses that the red sweater belongs to Rachel. In the story, Rachel infers that Sylvia dislikes her. In paragraph nine, it states, "Maybe because I'm skinny, maybe because she doesn't like me, that stupid Sylvia Saldivar says, "I think it belongs to Rachel." Either Sylvia doesn't remember who it belongs to or she doesn't like Rachel since the sweater is ugly and worn
Throughout the story “Eleven”, Cisneros demonstrates to the reader that Rachel despises her eleventh birthday. In doing so, Cisneros uses rhetorical devices such as tone, simile, dialogue, and repetition. These rhetorical devices serve to further insinuate how Rachel feels about her eleventh birthday. For instance, Rachel uses simile to compare her conflicted emotions to the rattling of pennies in a tin Band-Aid box. Furthermore, Cisneros displays tone and repetition within the story in order to depict Rachel’s attitude. The overall use of rhetorical devices within the story aid the reader in comprehending Cisneros’s characterization of Rachel’s feelings.
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 Sandra Cisneros’s “Eleven,” the young female protagonist, Rachel, dreads her transition into adolescence, but at the same time, she knows that it is inevitable. When Mrs. Price forces the red sweater on Rachel, “it [sits] there like a big red mountain” and she “shove[s] it” so that it “hangs over the edge [of the desk] like a waterfall” (Cisneros 36). The author uses the “red sweater” as symbolic of this transition as well as to foreshadow menstruation. Rachel sees adolescence as an obstacle that she has to tackle before she can gain her desired wisdom that comes only with age. By pushing the sweater away, she resists the transition because she does not want to have to deal with adolescences
After reading “Eleven” by Sandra Cisneros, it can be safely said that Rachel has been affected by the situation with the red sweater. The whole situation ruined Rachel’s eleventh birthday, making it a very unhappy birthday indeed. Being mistaken for the owner of the red seater drove poor Rachel to tears, right in front of her class, which embarrassed Rachel greatly, as it would any child of only eleven years old. This is true for multiple reasons. First, Rachel states outright that she doesn’t want to be eleven. On the day of the incident with the red sweater, Rachel wishes that she “was one hundred and two instead of eleven because if [Rachel] was one hundred and two [she’d] have known what to say when Mrs. Price put the red sweater on [her]
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
In the short story, “Eleven”, by Sandra Cisneros, the main character, Rachel, feels upset with both the teacher and her fellow students because she feels mistreated, she feels made fun of, and she openly weeps in front of the entire class. Rachel, throughout the story, feels mistreated because the teacher, Ms. Price, will not accept the fact that the red sweatshirt does not belong to Rachel. It can be inferred that other classmates also show this kind of behavior to Rachel, even though it is not directly stated in the story. On multiple occasions, the teacher, along with other pupils, repeatedly say that the sweater belongs to Rachel. For example, the teacher states to Rachel that, “You put that sweater on right now and no more nonsense.” A
Sandra Cisneros strong diction in the short Eleven aids to characterized Rachel feeling towards her infamous Eleventh birthday. Along with point view, tone and simile, these numerous rhetorical devices and many more are demonstrated throughout the entire short story. This in turns helps to point out Rachel true feelings. As the course of the short story Rachel exhibits a number of feeling about coming of age.
wants to be a free spirt and isolated. As Rachel turns eleven, her attitude towards the end of the
In “Eleven,” Rachel doesn’t want to be the age she is. In “Eleven,” Rachel believes that all of the ages are gathered inside of her and that through the years, they will show. The text
In this coming of age story, the character of Rachel portrays a typical young girl, who, by herself, attempts to understand age and the benefits of growing older. By using a setting of her eleventh birthday, Sandra Cisneros skillfully shows the elements that make one who they are and the difficulties that exist in growing up. Cisneros employs descriptive imagery and literary devices to describe Rachel’s experience.
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].
Growing up is a process that every kid have to go through. Most kids who grow up notice the changes, and it can either improve or disrupt the person they are. Some kids don’t notice a change at all, and they still feel like the same person from the previous age. In “Eleven” by Sandra Cisneros, the author use similes, diction, and imagery to express the emotions and the struggle that Rachel is going through as she turns eleven.
In Sandra Cisneros’s short story “Eleven”, Rachel’s emotions were negatively affected by the events of her birthday. First, Rachel’s experience brought her to feel a little less joyful about her eleventh birthday. The text states, “I finally say in a little voice” (Cisneros, 2). This evidence ties back to the question because, Rachel may be scared to confront the teacher. Also, she may be a normally quiet girl. One more way this piece of evidence could be interpreted is that Rachel may be depressed. Another way the events of Rachel’s eleventh birthday affect her emotional state is, when she starts to cry over the sweater (Cisneros, 3). Possibly she may be depressed. She also could be self-conscious about what she wears. Most girls
In the short story, “Eleven” by Sandra Cisneros, a young child named Rachel experienced her eleventh birthday in a classroom. As the story progresses there is a change in the tone- from nonchalant to sadness to anger. Cisneros uses various forms of figurative language throughout “Eleven”, such as repetition, metaphors and similes, and symbolism.