Sandra Cisneros 'Short Story Eleven'

The complexity of Rachel’s character differs within the play. On the one hand, Rachel is portrayed in a male disguise showing she has independence as she has taken matters into her own hands, her successful manipulation through disguise perhaps demonstrating her intelligence and how easily women can dupe men. This could also suggest that she is not acting according to the social ‘norms’ for women in the 60s demonstrating that she doesn’t fear people’s views of her although she is a woman. She demonstrates her strength and independence as she takes matters into her own hands ‘I’ll take two hundred in cash’ and acts in a violent way ‘Rachel slaps Francis’, portraying the growing power of women. On the other hand, Bean could have done this to project the message that women cannot hold any power without the help of a man. Although she has decided to solve her problem herself, she has had to dress up as a man to do so, thus showing that women’s roles are often tokenistic. The motive behind her plan was also for a man illustrating the length a women will go for a man. Had Rachel not dressed up as a man maybe she would not have gotten so far, her success in doing so

Growing up with parents who are immigrants can present many obstacles for the children of those immigrants. There are many problems people face that we do not even realize. Things happen behind closed doors that we might not even be aware of. Writers Sandra Cisneros and Amy Tan help us become aware of these problems. Both of these authors express those hardships in their stories about growing up with foreign parents. Although their most apparent hardships are about different struggles, both of their stories have a similar underlying theme.

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].

However, the way Rachel narrates the short-story represents her mature perspective and adult precision. Each story written by Sandra Cisneros both show the point of view from which the story is told and the effect it has on the thematic purposes, the characterization and diction present in the stories, and the stylistic choice chosen by Cisneros, which is figurative language.

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.

She is a snobby, whining girl with incorrect vocabulary. We get this feel of Rachel from the style in which her point of view is written. For example she said “executrate’” instead of ‘execute’, “autography” instead of autobiography, and “precipitation” instead of ‘participation’. When Rachel goes back into the house to try to salvage one ‘important’ thing, she says; "Not my clothes, there wasn’t time, and not the Bible-it didn’t seem worth saving at that moment, so help me God. It had to be my mirror.” We as readers conclude that Rachel is a girl who cares more about her appearance, than she does for her education; she revolves around herself and is ignorant of the rest of the world. However, readers acknowledge that Rachel is the only character in the novel to truly understand that the Price family did not belong in the Congo. She asserts from the very beginning that her father wouldn't succeed in changing the natives, instead acknowledging that the Congo would change the family instead.

In the short stories Eleven by Sandra Cisneros and On Turning Ten by Billy Collins both authors use multiple literary devices to achieve the theme of aging. In Eleven Sandra Cisneros uses figurative language, symbolism and mood to create the theme of aging. While in On Turning Ten the author uses word choice, figurative language and mood. The two of these authors use these literary devices to add to the theme but in different ways. These short stories both compare and contrast in their ways of achieving the theme of mood through figurative language.

This inner defiance gives evidence to Rachel’s determination and individuality. The sweater now represents a sort of barrier and if she submits herself to it, she fears the world of ages and maturity.

In the short stories, “Saving Sourdi,” by May-Lee Chai and “The Moths,” by Helena Maria Viramontes, the main character of each short story goes through their own coming of age experience where they are forced to mature in order to overcome an obstacle. Chai explains her main character, Nea’s, struggle as she is forced to mature and overcome the departure of her older sister, Sourdi, from her life after she gets married and moves away. Viramontes, on the other hand, depicts her narrator’s struggle as she is forced to mature and overcome the death of her Abuelita on her own. Despite their very different approaches, both Chai and Viramontes successfully convey their main character 's struggles in their journey from youth to adulthood.

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

Rachel is at the earliest stages of her coming of age, going through what may be one of her first painful rites of passage, and already she is changed. Rachel loses her initial innocence, and is in the throes of developing la facultad, because of the behavior of her teacher, faculty. Cisneros’s protagonist is the embodiment of a character at the early stages of obtaining la facultad. In the “foundational and historically significant text” (Saldivar-Hull, p.1) on the Border, Borderlands / La Frontera: The New Mestiza, author Gloria Anzaldua defines la facultad as, “…the capacity to see in surface phenomena the meaning of deeper realities, to see the deep structure below the surface. It is an instant “sensing.” A quick perception arrived at without conscious reasoning.” (Anzaldua, p. 61) Rachel has learned, that none has told her, that “when you’re eleven, you’re also ten, and nine, and eight, and seven…” and she wishes she was one hundred and two, “anything but eleven.” Rachel, is as Anzaldua posits regarding a person gaining la facultad, “excruciatingly alive in the world,” (Anzaldua, p. 61) and “the pain makes us acutely anxious to avoid more of it,” (Anzaldua, p. 61) which is why Rachel wishes she was one hundred and

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.

In many cultures, coming of age is often celebrated because children become young adults who grasp self-awareness and accountability. At the same time, childhood is threatened by responsibility, which is dreaded because there is an unpredictable world of adulthood waiting with no guarantees. James Hurst demonstrates the journey of growing up through life experiences everyone goes through in the short story, “The Scarlet Ibis”. Throughout his use of mood, setting, and symbolism, Hurst shows that maturing requires reflecting on past experiences and losing innocence, which then can transform one’s outlook on life.

Rachel grew up in a house hold where she had to grow up really quick. In her early teenage years she witnesses her mom struggle through abusive relationships with her step dad and other boyfriends that came after. She eventually became an alcoholic. By the time Rachel was 13 year old, she dropped out of school to take the role of the emotional and financial care taker of her mother. Living in her

Personal Power is the trait that makes people stand up for themselves and do the seemingly impossible. Two stories, "My Silent Battle" and "Eleven" have protagists that face self conflicts and struggle to solve them, yet they finally end up solving them problems in unique ways. Eleven is a story which portrays Rachel, an eleven year old girl who who faces an inner conflict of whether or not to wear a sweater placed on her desk by her teacher, Mrs. Price. Not only is the sweater not belonging to her, it is extremely dirty and old. What makes it so hard for her to solve the conflict is that she is very quiet and shy; is unable to voice her thoughts. The problem gets wose when her teacher forces her to wear it, consequently causing her to reach