Eleven
by Sandra Cisneros
1)
Sandra Cisneros is an American novelist and short story writer. She
has been honored with numerous awards. Her books have been translated
into more than 20 languages. She occupies an important place in the
history of American literature.
2)Theme
The main theme of the story is stated ”the coming of age”. The
rival themes are: childhood, youth, society.
Summary:
This is a story about a girl who was humiliated by her teacher in
front of the whole class. She lost herself by losing her ability to
defend herself.
3)Idea
Our life is full
of good and bad things. Every second of our life we have to deal with
a lot of problems, different situations in which we have to behave
according to our age. But there are a lot of situations in which we
can’t act properly. In these situation we can express our emotions
even though we are grown ups. There is nothing to be ashamed.
4)Message
The message of the
story is direct. If
we feel bad we should express our feelings. We should cry if we need
this like we are 3 years old. If we don’t express our feelings we
will fill even worse. We have to deal with this kind of situations
because they make us grown up. As a person grows older he or she may
still feel and behave younger at times.
5)Characters
The main character
of the story is Rachel. She is the protagonist of the story because
she is the central character and she is faced with the conflict. She
is also a round character because she is closely involved in the
plot. Rachel is a young girl. She is eleven years old. It was her
birthday. She is characterized indirect by the author through his
actions, thoughts, feelings. She is educated, shy, timid, respectful,
polite, emotional, sensible because when the teacher said that it was
her red sweater she could’t say something concrete because the
teacher was older and Rachel respected her. She
is embarrassed and feels helpless, but knows she will soon be home
with her parents, and her terrible day will drift away. We
are able to see Rachel's thoughts as she ponders why when you turn
eleven, you do not feel eleven, but rather all the previous years
together "like pennies in a tin Band-Aid box." The
embarrassment Rachel feels is made apparent through the use of point
of view, when her teacher makes her take the lost sweater in front of
the whole class. Even if the ugly sweater with red plastic buttons
and a stretched out collar and sleeves were hers, she would not admit
it since "it was maybe a thousand years old," Rachel
informs the reader. The teacher puts the sweater on Rachel's desk,
insisting that it belongs to Rachel; despite Rachel's objections, the
teacher makes her put the sweater on. Rachel tells the reader then
that she wishes she were one hundred and two. If she were that age
rather than eleven, then she would have known exactly what to say and
would not have ended up crying in front of the class. Another
character of the story is Mrs. Price. She is characterized direct by
the author through her social state she was a teacher. The author
also characterized her indirect through her actions . She was
aggressive, severe, harsh with her students. She spoke in a loud
voice. She was bossy, dishonest, inconsiderate because she humiliated
Rachel in the front of her class even though she had no evidences
that it was Rachel’s sweater. She didn’t respect her students and
didn’t apology when became obvious that it was not Rachel’s
sweater.
6)Conflict
I think that the main conflict is external man vs. man between
Rachel and Mrs. Price from one hand Rachel said that it’s not her
sweater from the other hand Mrs. Price didn’t belive her. Another
conflict is internal man vs. self from one hand Rachel wanted to say
a lot of things to Mr. Price from the other hand she was not able to
say them.
7)Title
The
title of the text ” Eleven” is a clue to the theme because eleven
is the age that made Rachel grew up maybe faster than she wanted
this. But it was like a lesson of life for her.
8)Plot
The plot
form is balanced.I think that the plot structure is straightforward.
The exposition embraces the first four paragraphs. In this part we
found out who is the main character of the story and that it was her
birthday she was eleven. The author also told us that she didn’t
feel that she was eleven at all. The story itsels begins with the
fifth paragraph. In this part Mrs. Price put the sweater on Rachel’s
desk and said that it was Rachel’s sweater. Even though Rachel said
that is was not she could’t say something and began to cry. Her
classmates also accused her. The climax of the story is the moment
when one of her classmates remembered that it was hers. The
denouement of the story embraces the last two paragraphs in this part
Rachel thought about her parents and about her birthday dinner but
she wanted just to be far away.
9)Stylistic
devices The author
used a lot of similes and hyperboles to express her thoughts and
ideas. Similes: “ The way you grow old is kind of like an onion or
like the rings inside a tree trunk or like my little wooden dolls
that fit one inside the other, each year inside the next one. “Only
today I wish I didn't have only eleven years rattling inside me like
pen nies in a tin Band-Aid box.” “It's an ugly sweater with red
plastic buttons and a collar and sleeves all stretched out like you
could use it for a jump rope.” “But when the sick feeling goes
away and I open my eyes, the red sweater's still sitting there like a
big red mountain.” Except when math period ends Mrs. Price says
loud and in front of everybody , "Now Rachel, that's enough,"
because she sees I've shoved the red sweater to the tippy-tip corner
of my desk and it's hanging all over the edge like a waterfall, but I
don't' care.” “I put one arm through one sleeve of the sweater
that smells like cottage cheese, and then the other arm through the
other and 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.” “
My body shaking like when you have the hiccups, and my whole head
hurts like when you drink milk too fast.” Hyperboles: “It’s
maybe a thousand years old”, “She’s getting mad”, “I can’t
stop the little animal noises from coming out of me”.
10)Vocabulary
The vocabulary is
chosen in harmony with the theme and situation described. The author
used a combination of colloquial (to sit on. to come out, go away)
and neutral (smart, skinny) words.
11)Atmosphere
The atmosphere is pessimistic, charged with fear, sad, regret. The
mood moves from excitement, disappointment to pity and terror.