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Analysis Of Growing Up In Eleven By Sandra Cisneros

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Growing up is something that everyone goes through. As one grows older they feel differently about growing up. A young kid wants to grow up and going out into the real world, then that same kid grows up a bit and faces the reality of life and doesn’t want to grow old, but instead wants to go back, the last phase is just accepting the fact that this is happening no matter what. The first stage is wanting to grow up and looking forward to it. The story “Eleven” by Sandra Cisneros shows the perspective of an eleven year old going through a tough situation:” I wish I was anything but eleven, because I want today to be far away already, far away like a runaway balloon, like a tiny o in the sky, so tiny you have to close your eyes to see it” (248). This little girl has no idea what growing up is, she believes that being older will fix everything, this shows how differently someone thinks when they’re younger and more naive. Cisneros says,” 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” (247). Furthermore,” Because she’s old and the teacher she’s right and I’m not” (Cisneros 247). The little girl says this and it applies to younger kids like herself because they’ve lived their whole life listening to what adults say that they have a tendency to just think they are right. The poem “On Turning Ten” by Billy Collins says,” It seems only yesterday I used to believe, there was nothing under my skin but light/ If you cut me I could shine” (29-32). This ten year old boy explains how he thought he was invincible and nothing was impossible. The picture “Growing Up” by Hannah Galvin shows 7 figures at different stages in their life, the third figure shows a little boy who is excited and running with his face up. This shows how he did everything with his head held high no matter what. This first stage gives someone the innocence that makes them a little kid, and allows them to have an imagination. The second stage is actually going out into the real world and realizing that growing up isn’t something to be excited for. Collins further states,” But now I am mostly at the window/ watching the late afternoon

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