Almost everyone knows that five plus six equals eleven, but is an eleven year old the equivalent of a five year old plus a six year old? Sandra Cisneros seems to agree age is a sum of parts in her short story “Eleven”, as she describes the life of an eleven year old named Rachel. Cisneros characterizes Rachel as exemplifying qualities expected from ages younger than her. This characterization is accomplished through first person point-of-view, indirect characterization, and symbolism that conveys the trials and tribulations of childhood. Cisneros tells the entire story from the view of young Rachel, which allows the reader to delve into Rachel’s thoughts. These inner thoughts help immensely in understanding the situation with the red sweater …show more content…
Rachel shows her childishness when she stammers out, “That’s not, I don’t, you’re not…Not mine.” I finally say in a little voice that was maybe me when I was four” (53-55). In this quotation, Rachel is too meek to stand up for what she believes in. The additional fear of an authority figure is also a trait commonly associated with young children. Rachel is further shown to contain the traits of a toddler when Cisneros writes, “I put my face down on the desk and bury my face in…my arms” (103-105). In exhibiting the weaker side of the fight-or-flight response, Rachel acts similarly to a toddler who hides behind their parents legs when a stranger arrives. Perhaps the greatest example of Rachel’s young age is when she says, “There’ll be candles and presents and everybody will sing Happy birthday…only it’s too late” (118-120). In this quotation, Rachel feels the after effects of a “tantrum”. Just like a child who has spent the last hour crying in their room and is now angry for the rest of the day, Rachel’s entire birthday is ruined, in her opinion, by one embarrassing event. Indirect characterization explains a lot about the character qualities of Rachel, but is it through symbolism that Cisneros conveys the true life of eleven year old …show more content…
Although for Rachel, the red sweater is only one embarrassing moment, it symbolizes the many moments of discomfort in a child’s life as they begin to experience the world. Rachel perfectly expounds upon the discomfort of the event when she says, “I …stand there with my arms apart like if the sweater hurts me and it does, all itchy and full of germs that aren’t even mine” (95-99). This quotation conveys the concept that no child can bear feelings of public embarrassment, especially young Rachel. Another important symbol in the short story is that of the birthday party. Rachel states what the party symbolizes to her when she says, “There’s a cake Mama’s making for tonight and when Papa comes home from work we’ll eat it” (116-117). The party and birthday cake are meant to symbolize the way parents try to buy over babies who can’t stop crying. In Rachel’s case, this small comfort amidst a sea of discomfort offers little to no consolation. Yet another symbol that portrays Rachel’s life is Mrs. Price. Mrs. Price shows herself as a grotesque when Cisneros writes, “‘Of course it’s yours,’ Mrs. Price says. ‘ I remember you wearing it once.’ Because she’s older and the teacher, she’s right and I’m not” (56-58). This quotation shows Mrs. Price to resemble authority figures in a child’s life. Most often, children are taught that elders are always correct and
The colour red that is in the collage represents the love between the characters and the desire. The love between the characters that has affair and the anger and desire between married characters. Moreover, it emphasizes the blood colour after the murder of Gatsby and Myrtle. The symbol broken heart symbolizes betrayal in this novel. The primary
Kingsolver heavily uses hyperbole when speaking from Rachel’s perspective and includes blame as a theme to add personality to characters throughout the book. It is easy to discern Rachel’s voice from the other sisters due to her voice and the way she processes thoughts and emotions. Rachel overexaggerates nearly everything, causing her to be rarely satisfied and constantly discontent with the world around her but never blaming herself for any misfortunes. By describing Leah as “the cause of all our problems,” (Kingsolver, 335) you can see her need to displace any blame away from herself or a predicament’s true factors and onto one set person in the same dramatic way she does anything. A similar attitude can be seen throughout the Price family,
The doll represents lives lost too soon, children who never got to grow up. In this way, the reader knows that the town of Holcomb has lost the virtue they didn’t realize they had before. With the innocence of the Clutters taken from them and murderers on the loose, how would they ever return to
Lizabeth felt confused and angry with the beauty of the flowers because they were a beacon of beauty and hope. Miss Lottie’s ugly house and mean demeanor are a symbol of the ugliness of poverty and the world Lizabeth lived in. Subconsciously, Lizabeth did not want the flowers there because they showed joy and happiness in the mean old woman and Lizabeth’s world of hardship and poverty. Without the flowers, without knowing about the world she was missing out on, Lizabeth felt that she could be happier. So, she sought to destroy that beauty so that she could go back to her own life of innocence.
Griffin Youngs Period 1 English 10 GT In the short story, “Eleven”, Sandra Cisneros depicts Rachel as an empathetic, wise, but socially misunderstood child who feels excluded by both her teachers and her fellow students. Cisneros utilizes various literary techniques throughout “Eleven” to help bring out the characteristics of the young and bashful Rachel, whose shyness keeps her from being able to express her inner brilliance. A prominent literary technique shown by Cisneros throughout the story is imagery.
Sometimes, personality can be perpetual. Even faced with the most adverse surroundings, a teenager’s character can remain virtually unaffected. Rachel Price, the eldest Price sister, experiences almost no change over the course of The Poisonwood Bible, written by Barbara Kingsolver. Characterized as an ignorant, superficial, “ditzy blonde”, Rachel makes no attempts to assimilate or adapt to the customs of Kilanga, frequently enjoying luxury and leisure at the expense of the villagers’ hard work. Rachel’s persona is perfectly captured in the nsongonya ants attack, where she simply decides to “stick out [her] elbows and raise up [her] feet,” and be carried in the stream of fleeing villagers, despite jabbing her elbows “very hard into the ribs” of the villagers carrying her (305).
In the short story “Birthday Party” by Katharine Brush, may literary devices are used to achieve a purpose. Brush uses devices such as imagery, diction, oxymoron, and repetition to convey a birthday surprise gone wrong. In addition to the birthday surprise, Brush also uses these devices to convey feelings. First, the short story begins with a third person point of view.
Just like the village, Rachel started to flee. Before she actually ran, Rachel committed an act that showed her true colors. In a panic, any sensible person with good morals would help their crippled sister or their other sick baby sister. Rachel didn’t do either of these things. In the moment, Rachel thought “I only had time to save one precious thing.
The Invisible Hero demonstrates a range of characterisations in high school characters. From dictators, to bystanders; one character demonstrates a twist of personality. Whilst interacting with others, Ruth’s characterisation develops from victim to hero. Throughout the story, the author portrays her as a shred of hope for the other characters.
Rachel Price is a beautiful young girl who joins her family on a one year mission trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo. She is a girl who likes herself a little too much. She is completely vain and self-conscious. Rachel is constantly worried about her appearance, as most teenage girls are in the United States. She brings along with her a mirror just to keep in touch with herself.
In a person’s life, many situations transpire and make them feel pride over one’s self. Readers can see this in the short story,” The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst. “In his spare time Hurst wrote short stories and plays, but The Scarlet Ibis was the only work of his that become famous “(gradesaver.com)”. In the short story, “The Scarlet Ibis” James Hurst uses red to symbolize warning, death, and guilt to show the change the older brother goes through, as he takes care of Doodle. The first instance when red is used, is to express warning and the older brother’s attitude, is at Doodle’s birth.
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.
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.
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”.
Dialogue is used in a writing piece in order to move the plot, to develop or define the character, or just to deepen the conflict. All together, dialogue is used to help the reader infer the theme of the text. Sandra Cisneros expresses the theme throughout the novel with the use dialogue to develop the characters in The House on Mango Street which retells her life experiences that made her who she is today in vignettes just like No Speak English. In her other work of literature, Eleven she shows the same theme, with the addition of the theme that there is a certain amount of power held by age. In the texts Eleven and No Speak English by Sandra Cisneros, the use of dialogue helps reveal aspects of the characters in each piece in order to develop the theme of identity and belonging.