In the story "Eleven," the author, Sandra Cisneros, expresses the character Rachel's personality
through diction, syntax, and imagery. She begins to create Rachel's voice of an 11-year old by
making her thoughts extremely descriptive and consistently repeating what she is thinking. In
the text, every time she tries to explain that she is not only 11, but all of the other years inside,
she says, "...when you're 11, you're also 10, and 9, and 8, and 7, and 6, and 5, and 4, and 3, and
2, and 1 (paragraph 1)." In using this statement repeatedly, she shows Rachel's vulnerability
and sensitivity in the midst of difficult situations. Cisneros also makes Rachel very descriptive
and imaginative because in the 3rd paragraph she states, "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 doll that fit
one inside the other, each year inside the next one." Another way she uses a different type of
imagery is when she describes the red sweater as the sleeves being too long, it's scratchy,
smells like cottage cheese, and is full of someone else's germs. The author also uses many
similies, again, to really develop the mind of a child.
The author uses diction to create Rachels personality as a sensitive child. An example from the
text " I put my head down on the desk and bury my face in my stupid clown -sweater arms. "
The choice of words that were used are a childish reference. An example of how the author
uses syntax is when the author writes " That’s when everything I’ve been holding in since this
morning, since when Mrs. Price put the sweater on my desk, finally lets go, and all of a sudden
I’m crying in front of everybody". The author uses run on sentences to express the flood of
feeling that Rachel is experiencing. Lastly an example of imagery that Sandra Cisneros uses to
illustrate Rachel personality "I put one arm through one sleeve of the sweater that smells like
cottage cheese, and then the other arm through the other and stand there with my arms apart
like if the sweater hurts me and it does, all itchy and full of germs that aren’t even mine." All of
this gives the reader a view of Rachel's personality.