Prompt #4

Being the youngest in my family, including extended family, has its pros and cons. I always have someone to look after me, to guide me throughout life, and needless to say my parents are definitely more lenient. Yet even with these perks I still feel that I am viewed as the baby and never taken seriously. I am constantly trying to play catch up with what is going on, and I am usually the one who’s stuck helping Grandma with the dishes or some sort of errand for Mom. I always try my hardest to prove myself as an adult, but sometimes I become so frustrated that I resort back to my younger days of pouting or crying. It is a constant battle between Independent young adult and momma’s baby girl. Similarly Rachel from “Eleven” relates her experience of her younger years rushing back to her when her teacher accuses her of leaving a sweater at school. She states that “all of the sudden, I’m feeling sick inside, like the part of me that’s three wants to come out of my eyes” (Cisneros, 12). Just like Rachel my emotions take over and I want to resort back to being young. Other times I exhibit strong adult-like behaviors, wanting to break free from the hold that being the youngest has on me. Like Rachel sometimes, “I wish I was one hundred and two” so that I could make decisions on my own and be respected (Cisneros, 20).

            Overall I can relate to Rachel on many levels. Age is a hard thing. Many individuals can act above or below their actual age all the time. I completely agree with Rachel’s opinion that, “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” (Cisneros, 3). Each year builds on the years before it and an individual cannot be the person they are today without going through the “innocence” of being a child or the “maturity” of becoming an adult. We become who we are today from the experiences we have each year “each year inside the next one” (Cisneros, 3).