The main character,
Rachel, describes an incident on her eleventh birthday that made
a strong impression on her. Think about what happens to Rachel
and how she feels about the incident. How does it affect the way
she feels about herself?
Write an essay in which you explain how you think Rachel views
herself on her eleventh birthday. Consider why she sees herself
as she does, what affects her view, and if her feelings about
herself change as a result of her experience. How does the author
show us Rachel’s feelings and how do we know if those feelings
change? Be sure to use specific details from the text to show why
you think the way you do--including one simile or metaphor
taken directly from the text and one original simile or metaphor
of your own to describe Rachel’s experiences.
And, how does this TedTalk relate to the story Eleven
Age is a number that shows the years we have all been alive on this earth. Many people tie the age of a person to their level of maturity they have. This is however, not true as we may see explained in this essay about eleven year old Rachel. A birthday is the day we were brought into the world and each year our age increases. When reading this essay I had to think about my own birthdays I had in the past. My birthday is not a special even to me, in fact I hate my birthday. The reason is quite simple really, that day is just a simple day just like any other day. I feel age is a lie to the world, because there are those people who are in their young childhood years can think like an adult in their fifties while there is adults in their fifties who think like children. This is like an dusty old jewelry box that contains one of the newest and youngest pieces of jewelry while a shiny brand new jewelry box contains one of the oldest pieces of jewelry. The metaphor of a tree trunks rings is used in the essay to show the idea that every person is the age they were before they turned, in this case eleven. Rachel is eleven, ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, and one. Just how all the ages are shown on a tree our ages are all shown in our acts.
ReplyDeleteRachel is shown as feeling all different ages in one period of a short time, three years old, ten, and closer to eleven. The red sweater can signify a wide variety of symbols in life such as adulthood or responsibilities that are set upon a person when they turn a new age. The sweater forced upon Rachel brought her to a dead silence, as she tried to speak out against the ugly sweater being hers. This silence can mean so much because of the human society now keeping their silence to others so as to not hurt their feelings or to get a reward in return such as support for a organization. The teacher of Rachel is one important role in the story, the teacher plays the part of the person who is putting the lid on other people's opinions and stifling that individuals voice. Rachel's teacher goes as far to force her to put on the sweater in which then Rachel says she reverted back to her three year old self by crying so hard and much. Finally someone speaks up about the sweater being theirs, we may not know wether they did so out of kindness for Rachel or if they truly remembered the notorious red sweater was theirs. After such an ordeal is over Rachel ends by saying the feels one step closer to being truly eleven years old rather than being ten. Our age does not show a person truly is, the only thing that shows an individuals true colors is their voice!!
Nichole, I like how you explained that the teacher in the story is like a lid on our opinions, and how the sweating is a symbol of adulthood. I would have never thought of that if you hadn't said it. Keep up the good work!
DeleteI like your opening statement about maturity and age and their lack of connection. I also lied your use of symbols in the story. Really unique approach.
DeleteNice job! You took a very artistic approach to this weeks blog and I absolutely loved it! I also really enjoyed your original simile about the jewelry. It's very creative and deep.:)
DeleteI liked your ideas about how the older you are not meanimg you are more mature than everyone else. I think this is so true and I'm sure we all know someone of every age that applied to that statement.
DeleteI enjoyed reading your essay and I like your reference to a dausty old jewelry box, nice job, keep up the good work!
DeleteRachel is an eleven year-old in school on her birthday. The teacher Mrs. Price found a red sweater. No one claimed the red sweater, and so Sylvia Saldivar blurted out she saw Rachel wear it. Rachel was later told to wear the sweater, and she was trying to hold back her tears because of the germs and smells in the sweater. Rachel wished she wasn't eleven anymore cause of the incident. Rachel probably views herself as a coward. Like a person who has to sneeze but can't, Rachel has words to say, but is unable say them. "But when I open my mouth nothing comes 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." She clearly wanted to say the sweater did not belong to her, but as previously mentioned, but she couldn't muster up the words to use. The author tries to explain to the reader how Rachel feels by using ages. As in when she was going to cry, it was like she was three. When she was unable to speak, it was the four year-old inside of her that answered, and so on. She really hated that sweater, and it is clearly expressed "like a big red mountain" on her desk. Perhaps because it reminded her of being uncourageous in telling the teacher that is wasn't her sweater. The Ted talk relates to the story because it talks about silence. The man said "silence is the residue of fear" which in accordance to Rachel, would make sense. Rachel, thinking Mrs. Price is always right and the children aren't, was probably afraid to confront the teacher. The man also brings up how one should "speak clearly and tell their truth." Rachel did not speak clearly, as discovered previously. Which intern, she couldn't really tell her truth. In all, I don't see this having a major effect on Rachel, because it was a minor misunderstanding which was promptly fixed. I'd give her until a week to forget about it or my name isn't Timothy.
ReplyDeleteI like how you also examined the statement of children always being wrong because teachers are always right. I would've said less about the story and used more of your own words. Other than that, well written.
DeleteTim, I really enjoyed reading your blog. You brought up some points that I didn't really think about, and they were very interesting. I had trouble finding your original simile or metaphor, and I wish that you would have went more in depth on your points. Overall, you did a great job!
DeleteI liked how you explained the story more however I would've also loved to hear you're opinion a little more! Still a good job though!
DeleteI loved your relation to the TedTalk! You have an amazing voice so show it more! I want to hear your opinion because most of the time it is worth hearing! Great job!
DeleteI enjoyed how you explained the emotions that she was feeling, and how you explained what age she felt in that moment. I also enjoyed how you related this story to the Ted Talk, very original. Good work.
DeleteEleven really brings the statement "age is only a number" to the forefront. Rachel just turned eleven and she goes off to school like ever other kid her age. She gets to her classroom only to find out that someone had left a red sweater behind. Her teacher, Mrs. Price, hold the sweater before the students and asks who the owner is. Nobody responds, until one of Rachel's fellow classmates states that she had seen Rachel wearing it before. Mrs. Price believes the story, despite Rachel saying that it is false, and places the sweater on Rachel's desk. Rachel, appalled by the sweater, continues to slowly move it away from her until her teacher cracks and forces her to put it on, sending Rachel into a fit of tears. Moments later, another student (whom Rachel stated was stupid) suddenly remembered the sweater was hers. This is a very emotional story, but why? It's all over a sweater that just didn't belong to her. What made it so emotional for Rachel? The only answer I can think of is that she's maturing, and that's part of the process. Children are better known to be "sheep" and go along with what everyone else says rather than have their own standpoint. Rachel, having almost argued with her teacher, took her first real step into adulthood. Adults are far more argumentative and divided when it comes to other people, and this was seemingly Rachel's first experience with the issue. Another instance that helps prove this theory is her statement that "Mrs. Price is always right and the children are always wrong." She, as both a child and adult at this point, believes this to be true while also knowing that the teacher is wrong at the same time. This whole scenario shows the beginning of Rachel's "transition" into adulthood. When a child hears that someone is always right, they go along with it. When an adult hears that, they typically disagree. Rachel almost did the latter of the two like an adult but was too consumed by the beliefs she had been raised on as a child. Many people have a moment where this happens to them, and they don't even usually notice it. We begin this phase where we start to disagree and form our personalities based on our beliefs as free-thinking individuals. It's a natural thing, but I seemed to hit Rachel much harder than most other people. This sudden realization that "you're not a child anymore. Those years are behind you. They shine through here and there, but you are now an adult with adult responsibilities. While this does seem a bit too deep for someone that just turned eleven, this could be the headshot reality she is in the process of enduring. In the TED talk, "the Dangers of Silence," the speaker helps emphasize some critical points that relate to the story. He mentions that one time during lent he gave up speaking, only to realize he had done so many years ago. He states that the ability to speak is squandered when we tell people what they want to hear, rather than what they need to hear. Rachel had this problem with the sweater, which sat "there like a big red mountain." She told the teacher what she wanted to hear (the sweater was hers), rather than what she needed to hear (the sweater doesn't belong to me). Rachel showed a significant amount of weakness in that moment where she gave up and said "yes, Mrs. Price." She lost the battle when she just went along with what everyone said. Everyone said the sweater was hers, including the teacher, so it must've been hers. People are like this every day. They believe what they are told and go along with what society tells them just so they can fit in and "go about there normal lives." They don't speak their minds, because they no longer have minds of their own. People become sheep in a society that needs wolves. The sheep go about their lives like one another never questioning anything or thinking for themselves individually, while the wolves are the ones who come in and make a difference by eliminating the sheep.
ReplyDeleteNick, I like your whole "Sheeps and Wolves" idea. In a society like today, there are more sheeps than are wolves. Good Job!
DeleteI really do like this sheep and wolf approach. Much different than the typical "wolf and sheep" examples. We do need more poeple who aren't afraid to make a difference in this world, instead of going with the crowd.
DeleteThe blog this week has to be my favorite blog so far. I really do love artistic and creative pieces of writing such as "Eleven". Rachel, the main character of the story, had an incident at school on her eleventh birthday that made her realize she did not actually want to be eleven. Rachel wanted to be one hundred and two. Although Rachel did not realize the difficulties of being elderly, she knew that being older means being wiser, and wisdom and confidence was what Rachel needed in her red sweater situation on her birthday. Rachel was a shy and uncertain eleven year old when put in social citations. When the teacher asked the class who the red sweater belonged to everyone assumed it was Rachel's. Rachel did not know how to respond even though she knew the sweater did not belong to her. She felt trapped because she tried to say that the sweater was not her's, but no one would believe her. Overwhelmed by the situation, Rachel burst into tears. At this point she viewed herself as an embarrassment, insecure, and was not confident to stand up for herself. After rereading this section over and over again, I realized that Rachel learned a lesson about birthdays that changed her perspective. Rachel tried to make herself feel better about the situation by thinking about what would happen when she got home such as birthday cake and presents, but she realized that cake and presents would not make the incident and her feelings about herself go away. "It's too late," thought Rachel. She realized that birthdays are not always perfect, and this made her a grow up a bit. It's like a finger that no longer fits in a RingPop. The kid realizes they are growing up which is what happened in Rachel's situation. Her view of being one hindered and two also changed. She did not want to be that age because of wisdom, but she wanted to be that age because this incident would be long gone; a vague memory. "I want today to be far away already, far away like a runaway balloon, like a tiny o in the sky, so tiny-tiny you have to close your eyes to see it," described Rachel.
ReplyDeleteThe author did an exquisite job of writing the way an eleven year old would truly explain the situation. This lead to the feelings being more authentic. For example, an eleven year old would not think about the medical situations that occur at the age of one hundred and two, but as an eleven year old, age equals wisdom in a younger mind and that's all she wanted. This is why the author's writing is so impeccable.
"Silence is the residue of fear," stated Clint Smith in his TED talk "The Danger of Silence." Smith described the same type of silence Rachel experienced on her birthday. Rachel was fearful of what to say when asked about the sweater and remained silent due to the fact that she could not defend herself. Smith described silence as "filling your flaws," which is exactly what Rachel was doing in her situation. Her insecurities led to silence which worsened her red sweater situation on her eleventh birthday.
I really enjoyed your approach to this weeks blog. I liked all the points you used! Good job
DeleteIt was my favorite blog as well! I enjoy how you stated she didn't actually want to be 102. She just wanted to be as wise and as brave as someone that old. Wonderful job!
DeleteI always like reading your blogs because they are "so Marcy" meaning your way of depicting, relating, and writing it is very well spread and thought out. Ps I enjoyed the resemblance to Ring Pop. I too get sad when my fingers are to big to fit the tiny plastic hole 😂😂
DeleteI connected with this story on a personal level. The story describes Rachel's eleventh birthday and a turning point of her life. She says, "When you wake up on your eleventh birthday you expect to feel eleven, but you don't." She has an eye opening realization that she is growing up. When a girl in her class calls her out for owning an ugly red sweater and the teacher believes her, Rachel doesn't know what to say. She can only stare at the ugliness of the red sweater before her and shrink back into embarrassment. She is ashamed at herself that she is eleven years old and can't even voice her opinion. She does try to convince herself that she should be happy, so she focuses on her family and all of the wonderful things they have prepared for her birthday.
ReplyDeleteThis is exactly how I feel every year on my birthday. Mine is in the middle of August so I've never had to go to school on my birthday, but I've had the same feelings she experienced in her classroom. When I turned sixteen, I had a big party with all of my closest friends and family at my house. So many adults would come up to me and tell me how old I was getting and how I would be off to college before I knew it. I kept my cool on the outside, unlike poor Rachel, but on the inside I was freaking out. I had no idea where I wanted to go to college let alone what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. It took me a long time to be able to say I was sixteen years old right away when people asked. Rachel felt the same way when she said, "You don't feel eleven. Not right away. It takes a few days, weeks even, sometimes even months before you say Eleven when they ask you. And you don't feel smart eleven, not until you're almost twelve. That's the way it is."
I believe Rachel was experiencing the same feelings as me. We were both having an "early life crisis." This is pretty much the same as a mid life crisis but at a younger age. We were realizing we were growing older and needed to transition into the next stage to be adults. For me, my realization was a little harder. I'm almost graduated and Rachel is probably going into middle school. Either way, we were both freaking out.
The Ted-talk was a perfect addition to this blog. The speaker emphasizes the points of his silence can be dangerous. If we don't speak up about our feelings, we will never know the amount of people that have the same thoughts. If Rachel would have spoken up to her parents about the feelings she had about growing up, her parents could have explained to her that she isn't the only one that has gone through that thought process. I know that when I told many people after my birthday how I was nervous for the future, i received plenty of personal advice from adults that went through the same "early life crisis." When we go through any type of event, being silent could only worsen the situation.
Birthdays are something that everyone looks forward to. The presents. The cake. The special dinner. The celebration of you. Rachel claims that when she woke up on her 11th birthday, she didn’t feel any different than the day before. She still felt 10 years old. She tells the reader something that no one else has told them. “When you are eleven, you are also ten, and nine, and eight, and seven, and six, and five, and four, and three, and two, and one.” After reading Eleven by Sandra Cisneros, it seems to me that Rachel feels differently about herself than she did in the beginning. Her experience affected the way she felt about herself and the way she felt others saw her. She felt embarrassed and alone. Especially when Sylvia, her classmate, told Mrs. Price the sweater belonged to Rachel and even more so when Mrs. Price made her put it on because she felt singled out. When children begin to grow up a little bit more they begin to search for the approval of others. Her view changes because all she can think is that other .people are laughing at her for owning a ragged old sweater. She woke up knowing that she was eleven but she didn’t feel eleven, she still felt ten. She was okay with this because she knew her mom had days where she felt three. By days end she was wishing she was much older by saying “Today I wish I was one hundred and two instead of eleven because if I was one hundred and two I’d have known what to say when Mrs. Price put the red sweater on my desk”. She also felt she would be far away from that same memory. Putting the sweater on brought on a flood of tears as if it were an earthquake breaking apart a dam. Rachel compares her eleven years of life to pennies rattling around in a tin band-aid box. When I read this I imagined that the pennies were all the thoughts she had but could not say because they were trapped inside such a small box. In the Ted Talk video by Clint Smith titled The Danger of Silence he talks about standing up for yourself and speaking your truths. It made me realize that she should have spoken up with confidence thereby possibly avoiding embarrassment and tears.
ReplyDeleteRachel is a young school girl that had just turned eleven when she had something happen that would affect her for longer than just a few minutes. Her teacher had asked Rachel's class who owned a disgusting, smelly red sweater that had been in the class's coat room for over a month. When Sylvia, a girl in her class, told the teacher it belonged to Rachel and the teacher believed her, I feel that had made Rachel feel upset and low that she was given a gross sweater on her birthday. Rachel became very upset because her teacher acted on other people's assumptions. That day Rachel had low self esteem because a girl in her class and her teacher were both being mean to her. Although Rachel was upset because of the incident, she still tried to stay positive and contain her anger by thinking how she's going to get cake when she gets home. Overall, Rachel woke up happy that she was turning eleven but her mood got turned around when she recieved a gross red sweater.
ReplyDeleteAs stated in the short story, Rachel said "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" and by reading that it is obvious Rachel didn't exactly know how to feel. I can relate to that as well, I'm sixteen but some days I wish I was younger. Sometimes I break down and cry like I'm four, other times I act like I'm in my terrible twos, and other times I want to act like I have no responsibilities like I did throughout my entire childhood. That day Rachel felt as though she was singled out amongst her entire class for receiving that sweater and sometimes I feel that way too. I feel like that in situations like when teachers call on me to answer problems.
Your despcription of the piece, I felt, was very personalized and shortened down, which necessarily isn't a bad thing. However, you are missing the mentioning and relation of the TedTalk. Which is a shame because I thought the TedTalk was very powerful. Overall, good.
DeleteSweater is red, teacher yells till blue, and rachel only one who knew. The eleven year old is pinned against the forced ownership of a overly stretched, raunchy sweater. Nothing says happy birthday more than practically being given an article of clothing no one dare touch, let alone worn. Rachel was celebrating her eleventh birthday when Sylvia Saldivar gave Mrs. Price the reason to believe that the unwanted, left behind sweater was Rachel's. Rachel would not simply talk back or correct Mrs. Price due to her innocent, eleven year old personality. Even when Rachel tried to say something to the raggedy piece of clothing that was placed on her desk, but nothing was coming out that would make logical sense. Mrs. Price insisted it was hers, and recalling her wearing the stretched sweater. Rachel was appalled by everyone's accusations. With everything that has just transpired, she begins to feel sick. The dialog she is having with herself portrays the belittling emotions she is experiencing on her eleventh birthday. She says, "only I squeeze them (her eyes) shut tight and bite down on my teeth real hard and try to remember today I am eleven, eleven". Through the distraught of the day, all she wants is to be one hundred and two, for no other reason than for this day to be nothing but an almost forgotten memory. Only an eleven year old mind would want to be a century old with a feeble, broken body and mind. Howver, her main request of the age was to attain the knowledge of an individual of that age. "Pain is temporary, pride is forever." The social pain that was inflicted on young Rachel could have been subsided if she presented a strong tongue and authoritative, but respectful tone. However, the silence she had gave her teacher and peers no other reason than to assume. When Rachel says, "But when the sick feeling goes away and I open my eyes, the red sweater's still sitting there like a big red mountain" it is something I can relate to on many levels. Something goes wrong unexpectedly and I just close my eyes in distraught to what has just occurred; wishing when I'd open my eyes it would be gone like it never even happened, it'd be simply a dream. Everyone has that eleven year old mind set of wanting something to go away, close your eyes and when you open them, Poof! It is gone.
ReplyDeleteI am not much of an adamant reader, however when I do have the passion to read, I prefer fiction. I do not know if it was just today I was not feeling it, but I did not connect well with this piece for some reason. However, the TedTalk about silence was more appealing to me. TedTalks are always spoken so quickly, I have to pause and rewind the video so I can understand what the speaker is saying. The four minute, twenty three second video took me about 15 minutes to complete. Clint Smith stated that it's not the spoken words from our enemy that we remember, however, it's the silence and unspoken mind of our friends that we recall. He stated that he gave up speaking during the time of Lent. But what he hadn't realized is that he gave that up a long time ago; he spent time telling people what the want to hear rather than the things they needed to hear. He referred to the time an individual was being beat up for being gay, he put his hands in his pocket and just walked away and pretended like nothing was the matter. He couldn't use his locker for the longest time because the lock reminded him of the lock he put on his lips during many occurrences of his life. There are many instances in my life where I choose to put that lock on, and later on question why I ever did so, why I even ignored the fact of it's existence. One of the clearest aspects I heard was the rapping itself around our bodies and inhibiting us from seeking the truth, we need to break through the tied ropes and live like there's a microphone under our tongue and having the confidence to speak.
The situation didn't damage Rachael view of herself but rather supported her views about life. She believes that all people should be able to step away from their lives to see the big picture. "Because 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." She also believes because of this that age doesn't measure intelligence but comes through experiences. All the things she experienced from her different ages come back to her in certain situations, which Rachel is proud of. The author shows us Rachel's views by writing it from her POW.
ReplyDelete