Short Story Eleven By Sandra Cisneros

During Christmastime, the family trades simple gifts to one another. Francie attends a Christmas event for the underprivileged children, where all the kids are too proud to accept any of the offers. When a small child wants to give away one of her dolls to whoever is named “Mary,” no one stirs. Francie, not wanting to let the gift to go to waste, lies about her name to bring the doll home. Although all of the other children keep their pride, she loses it, and feel embarrassed.

Growing up with parents who are immigrants can present many obstacles for the children of those immigrants. There are many problems people face that we do not even realize. Things happen behind closed doors that we might not even be aware of. Writers Sandra Cisneros and Amy Tan help us become aware of these problems. Both of these authors express those hardships in their stories about growing up with foreign parents. Although their most apparent hardships are about different struggles, both of their stories have a similar underlying theme.

While the red sweater lay along her desk, she tries thinking of way to rid herself of the sweater during lunch. Eventually in front of everyone she breaks down in tears from all the built up stress and embarrassment of the incident. Rachel later says “ But the worst part is right before the bell rings for lunch that stupid Phyllis Lopez, who is even dumber than Sylvia Saldívar, says she remembers the red sweater is hers! Rachel's choice of the words “worst”, “stupid”, and “dumber” shows how angry she feels towards her classmates who had threw her under the bus. Along with the assumption from Mrs. Price that the sweater was obviously hers. This phrase also proves that Mrs. Price had lied when she supposedly remembered Rachel wearing the old ragged sweater once. As the day came to an end Rachel comes to the conclusion that she has turned eleven today, subsequently she also has all the emotions from her previous years. Stating that she is eleven, ten, nine, eight… however saying “I wish I was anything but eleven, because I want today to be as far away already, far away like a runaway balloon, like a

The most important lesson for Rachel that comes out of this situation is that after wearing the disgusted sweater she has become even older, and it was tied to the experience instead of the birthday itself. She understands that it is the challenge she needs to grow up faster as she will receive additional benefits of behaving the way she wants and resisting to the outside irritators. As for the literature techniques, the author applies language, diction and symbolism to reveal the issues of experience, aging, knowledge, power, authority and freedom. The discovering is gaining age are conveyed with the help of the memories of eleven-year-old girl on her birthday. Rachel resists her humiliation from Mrs. Pierce, and that is the exact moment when her “smart eleven” comes as well[2].

Price puts the sweater on her desk. In the text it states that “‘That's not, I didn't, you're not... not mine,’ I finally say in a little voice that was maybe me when I was four”.This demonstrates her weakness and lack of self confident because she is unwilling to express that the sweater isn’t hers and that shows how shy and passive Rachel is. Another thing that Rachel says in this story that demonstrates her weakness is the fact that continuously she states “not mine” yet this was not being spoken out loud. A line from the texts shows the reader her

Rachel Price is a character within the novel who is very self-centered, arrogant, selfish, racist, and independent. Although some of these characteristics go along with each other, others seem to contradict each other. Rachel’s selfishness shows through in many parts of the book. She is typically only focused on her successes and issues, without much regard to anyone else.

(lines 19-22) By using dolls and trees to explain the concept of age, it can be inferred that these are objects Rachel is often surrounded with. Another reference to her youth is her statement "rattling inside me like pennies in a tin Band-Aid box." (line 30) The extremity that Rachel took the issue of the sweater to shows Rachel's level of maturity. She pushed it to the very top corner of her desk so it was "hanging all over the edge like a waterfall." (line 83) She acted as if the ugly sweater had a disease and would harm her if she was near it.

Imagery is another literary technique that is used to characterize Rachel. In the incident over the red sweater, Rachel states, “That’s not, I don’t, you’re not… Not mine.” I finally say in a little voice that was maybe when I was four. “From this line, a picture is painted through words to show Rachel’s facial expression and her reaction to having to admit that the sweater belonged to her. Cisneros also paints a picture of Rachel when she states, “all of a sudden I’m crying in front of everybody. I wish I was invisible but I’m not. I’m eleven and it’s my birthday today and I’m crying like I’m three in front of everybody”; in reference to Rachel having to wear “the ugly sweater with red plastic buttons and a collar and sleeves all stretched out like you could use it for a jump rope”. From that statement, Cisneros shows how sad and upset Rachel was about having to put on that sweater.

She is a snobby, whining girl with incorrect vocabulary. We get this feel of Rachel from the style in which her point of view is written. For example she said “executrate’” instead of ‘execute’, “autography” instead of autobiography, and “precipitation” instead of ‘participation’. When Rachel goes back into the house to try to salvage one ‘important’ thing, she says; "Not my clothes, there wasn’t time, and not the Bible-it didn’t seem worth saving at that moment, so help me God. It had to be my mirror.” We as readers conclude that Rachel is a girl who cares more about her appearance, than she does for her education; she revolves around herself and is ignorant of the rest of the world. However, readers acknowledge that Rachel is the only character in the novel to truly understand that the Price family did not belong in the Congo. She asserts from the very beginning that her father wouldn't succeed in changing the natives, instead acknowledging that the Congo would change the family instead.

This inner defiance gives evidence to Rachel’s determination and individuality. The sweater now represents a sort of barrier and if she submits herself to it, she fears the world of ages and maturity.

Cisneros benefits from her usage of voice to show how Rachel, the main character, struggles with growing up and to help readers relate to her. Rachel describes that “when you wake up you expect to feel eleven, but you don’t” (Cisneros 1). Explaining how she doesn’t feel a year older on her birthday, she says that she expects to. This shows how eager she is to grow up, but she’s impatient at the thought of it. However, although she wishes to be older, growing up doesn’t happen all at once. Rachel also illustrates how she’s eleven, but she says “I wish I was one hundred and two” (Cisneros

The next two times Cisneros presents the reader with a simile is to reference the red sweater. After the teacher had put the sweater on Rachel’s desk, she talks about feeling sick and wanting that feeling to go away, but when she opens her eyes and, “the red sweater’s still sitting there like a big red mountain” (n.p.), she begins to think about how to get rid of the sweater. Before she is able to accomplish this Mrs. Price notices how, “it’s hanging over the edge like a waterfall” (n.p.), and demands that Rachel put the sweater on. After this incident, Rachel buries her face in her, “stupid clown-sweater arms” (n.p.). As mentioned earlier the collar and sleeves of the sweater are stretched out. The last use of similes and metaphors in, “Eleven,” is found in the last sentence of the story- “ 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” (n.p.). Cisneros is comparing the distance a balloon will travel away from its owner to the distance she wishes this day was away from her.

The main idea of the story, “Eleven”, by Sandra Cisneros illustrates that birthdays are symbolic but do not necessarily represent emotional evolution. Cisneros uses examples of this when talking about the main characters, Rachel, mother. “And maybe one day when you’re all grown up maybe you will need to cry like if you’re three, and that’s okay. That’s what I tell Mama when she’s sad and needs to cry. Maybe she’s feeling three.” Cisneros talks about the emotional experience that we can all relate to about growing up. The story illustrates how the layers of ages are never fully gone at each birthday instead they are added onto the current age. I agree that a person carries all ages that they have been. Some days you may feel like being childish and silly,

Price, holds up a ragged red sweater and asks for its owner. Everyone denies the sweater belongs to them, and Sylvia Saldivar says it is Rachel's. Rachel's reaction to the red sweater conflict differs through the story. Rachel responds in three sentence fragments: the first time, “That's not, I don't, you're not…Not mine.” The second time, Mrs. Price asks Rachel to wear the sweater, she responds in a single sentence fragment: “But it's not--.” The third time, she cries: “crying like I'm three in front of everybody.” Her voice disappears: “I can't stop the little animal noises from coming out of

After being forced to accept the “red sweater,” she realizes that she has lost the fight and has to succumb to it because it is indeed inevitable. In her eyes, it is too late to celebrate her birthday because she has already experienced the pain and discomfort of her transition to adolescence. Even though she would much rather deny it, Rachel realizes she cannot escape the impending wave of physical and emotional changes that adolescence will bring.