Once I read the first 3 words of “Eleven” by Sandra Cisneros, my mind immediately jumped tothe creative writing class I took at Case Western Reserve University during the summer of 2006. I became 14 again as my eyes returned to the short story that I had once fell in love with.
As a dancer, I have been indoctrinated with the notion that repetition is the only way to truly understand something and deepen the knowledge potentially gained by doing something. This notion rings true for not only dance but for reading as well. I am happy that I had the opportunity to revisit Cisneros’ work “Eleven,” for it gave me the opportunity to gain more insight into my own perception of age and its effect on the manifestation of my emotions.
In “Eleven,” the author uses an 11-year-old child’s perspective as a mean to codify life by the emotions, habits, and actions normally associated with a certain age. This ingenious way of analyzing life and age seems to match the creativity that is only found in a child. However, this concept of age is far too wise for an eleven year old to be able to fully develop and comprehend.
Still, I wasn’t distracted by the utter maturity and sophistication of young Rachel (the 11-year-old protagonist in Cisnero’s two-page short story). In contrast, this juxtaposition of her age and sensibility allowed me to grasp Cisneros’ mergence of her current personal experiences and her choice of delivery. Since her delivery was from the vantage point of a child and she is currently a 57-year-old woman, this combination beautifully displayed the range of knowledge and experiences that allows literature to serve as a valuable asset to society.
Eleven Response
ReplyDeleteThis story brought me back to my teenage years just as it did for Clay. It brought me back to my 18th birthday in particular. On the day before my 18th birthday, I had the idea that turning 18 would be this big ordeal and I would feel and truly be so much older. What exactly feeling and being so much older meant, I was unsure, I just had this idea that something would be different. It seems like I get these feelings and ideas before each one of my birthdays, expecting a drastic change in myself with the change in my age. With Clay’s point of repetition, and “practice makes perfect”, I was able to better understand these feelings I was experiencing. Just as by practicing dance, or practicing reading, we practice our age and prepare for each year of advancement. As discussed in the short story, turning 18 meant that I had mastered, or at least practiced, the years of being 17, 16, 15, and so on. The only difference in being 18 was that I now held the formal title of being 18 years of age. This short story brought back various memories of lasting impact that have worked to shape me into the person I am today and worked to prepare me for my current age of 19.
David Belpedio