EVELEEN In the story “Eleven” by Sandra Cisneros. The girl Rachel is very insecure about herself. Rachel's birthday is coming up soon and she has a not very great day at school on her birthday. I am going to give you three reasons on how Rachel is very insecure.
The author, Sandra Cisneros, uses literary techniques in “Eleven” to characterize Rachel by using metaphors, comparisons, and repetition. In the beginning of Sandra Cisneros’s short story, she states that when a person becomes an age older they will not feel a difference. The character Rachel explains that in different situations, for example, “Like some days you might say something stupid, and [you will feel ten]” a person might feel different from their actual age. She then competes growing old to layers of an onion, rings of a tree, wooden dolls that fit inside each other because, according to her, “that’s how being eleven years old is”.
In the story"Eleven", Rachel acts more like a child than a tween. One reason Rachel acts more like a child is in paragraph five,"If I was one hundred and two I'd have known what to say when Mrs. Price put the red sweater on my desk instead of just sitting with that look on my face and nothing coming out of my mouth". This shows that Rachel acts like a child because she "sat there with that look on my face" or showing emotions without speaking. Another reason might be in paragraph ten said,"I finally say in a little voice that was maybe me when I was four".
Rachel’s views herself in “Eleven,” is that she’s growing up and she doesn’t know how to handle it. There are many reasons and evidence, to back up why I feel this way. “How do you think Rachel views herself?” When I saw the question, I thought about when Rachel said, “And when you wake up on your eleventh birthday you expect to feel eleven, but you don’t.” (Cisneros 99)
In the short story “Eleven” the author, Sandra Cisneros utilizes several different literacy devices to bring to life the character of Rachel. The author’s decision to write from Rachel’s viewpoint greatly affected how realistic the characterization felt. She writes as if she is truly an 11 year old herself while also coming back to an almost outside viewpoint. The style of writing makes it feel like the author is relaying an old memory and telling the story from her 11 year old viewpoint and her adult viewpoint.
All humans strive to supply their own needs, defend themselves, and fulfill their desires. In “Eleven” Sandra Cisneros presents Rachel 's experience on a very special day - her eleventh birthday. While in “The Chaser” John Collier presents Alan 's love for Diana and his desire to use shady means to find her love. Both stories, share similarity within the struggle to achieve their desires. However, these two stories appear to be different in several aspects considering the backgrounds in which each story was written and how it ends.
In the story “Eleven” the main character Rachel is acting like an immature child. There are many examples of her emotions coming out of her in a childlike way. One example is when she begins to give excuses for certain behaviors and relates them to younger ages like it is ok to act like a kid. Using comparisons like “Or maybe some days you might need to sit on your mama’s lap because you’re scared, and that’s the part of you that’s five” shows how she would prefer to act childlike and not grow up and act more like a tween.
Sandra Cisneros’ short story “Eleven”, poem “My Wicked Wicked Ways”, and book The House on Mango Street have many similarities and differences in terms of style, tone, theme, character and setting. In the short story “Eleven”, Sandra Cisneros manages to convey a powerful message about growing up from the perspective of an eleven year old. The story starts out with Rachel, the protagonist, who is turning eleven today. It starts out with her at school while she's in math class.
Sandra Cisneros developed the voice of Rachel as an eleven year old in, “Eleven” by writing the way an eleven year old would think and illustrating how an eleven year old would act through Rachels actions. The voice an author uses when writing a story dictates the way the story sounds and what feelings a reader experiences when reading a story along with many other things. Clearly an author's voice influences many things and the way an author establishes the voice is essential to the development of a character. Sandra Cisneros develops Rachel's voice in the story, “Eleven” by writing in the view of an eleven year old girl and illustrating how an eleven year old would
In the story “Eleven,” the narrator Rachel acts more like a child. In the story, the author says, “I finally say in a small voice that sounds like I’m four. ”This shows that Rachel spoke in a small childish voice rather than in a confident voice like tween would. In another part of the story the author tells us that “all of a sudden I’m crying in front of everyone.” This proves that Rachel did not control her emotions in a mature way, instead she cries like a child.
In the story “Eleven”, the narrator describes Rachel’s behavior more like a child than a tween. A child acts like a baby that cries and thinks only about herself, but a tween is more mature, smarter, and willing to help and play with little kids. In the article on paragraph nine, Rachel says, “Not mine”, like she is four years old and like a child. She also says, “My face all hot and spit coming from my mouth because I can’t stop the little animal noises coming from me.”
This message is threaded throughout both “Eleven” and “Same Song” in a psychological sense. In the excerpt written by Sandra Cisneros, she treats ages in an entirely new way. Rather than viewing them as milestones to pass and never revisit, Cisneros believes that ages are “kind of like an onion” or “the rings inside a tree trunk,” with each year layering upon the last. The author states that when one’s birthday occurs, they do not immediately feel that age. It may take months to “feel smart” for the age one truly is.
Eleven In short story “Eleven” by Sandra Cisneros she uses different stylistic techniques such as imagery and figurative language such as similes to create the narrator's youthful voice. The author uses imagery to make the the narrator sound like a little girl on page 3 it indicates in the following quote “ This is when I wish I wasn't eleven because all the years inside of me ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two and one are pushing at the back of my eyes when I put one arm through one sleeves of the sweater that smells like a cottage cheese” this shows that she still a little girl because as she putting it on she crying because she doesn't wanna put on the sweater it stanks and it's not hers. The author displays imagery through the story by using the quote, “ I wish I wasn't eleven because all the years inside of me ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two and one are pushing at the back of my eyes when I put one arm through one sleeves of the sweater that smells like a cottage cheese”.
Age: the length of time that a person has lived or a thing has existed. In the short story“Eleven” by Sandra Cisneros. Talks about Rachel the main character on here eleventh birthday. Cisneros uses this to her advantage to characterize using details, specific language, and figurative language to explain her day.
The tone of the story is important in making the story sound like it is being to through the eyes of an eleven year old girl, such phrases like “pennies rattling in a band-aid box” and “my whole head hurts like when you drink milk too fast.” All these are certain phrases that would be used in an eleven year old's life, bandaids for the bumps and scrapes, and the milk that your parents would make you drink. That is the tone Eleven sets, a young girl telling us her humiliating story while she is still a child. Sandra Cisneros does an excellent job at using literary devices to characterize Rachel in “Eleven”. By using imagery, simile, and tone we can see that Rachel is a empathetic, bashful, wise, but still naive in her own ways.