In Eleven, the author not only tells us that the narrator is eleven years old, but she also makes the
age of the speaker evident through the style and tone of the passage, as well as the content. The
story is written as an eleven year-old would write, which helps the reader to feel Rachel’s
sentiments.
The author’s choice of vocabulary was cohesive with that of a child, as she frequently used
“stupid, idiot, and mama and papa.” As the reader takes in these words, they see it as Rachel’s
vocabulary, not the author’s, and therefore Rachel becomes a more rounded and believable
character.
Along with the youthful language, the sentence structure reinforces Rachel’s character.
Sentences such as, “when you’re eleven, you’re also ten, and nine, and eight, and seven…”
would not typically be written by an experienced, older writer, and again Rachel’s being
becomes more defined.
The tone of this passage and the content go hand in hand. The main focus of the story is Rachel’s
embarrassment over a red sweater and how she reacts to it. Her reaction to her embarrassment is
where the tone of the passage comes from. The tone is childish and immature, as Rachel reacts
so strongly to something that is in the big picture, not a big deal at all. She tells us that having to
wear the red sweater is the epitome of embarrassment, and closes the passage by telling the
reader that she wants to run away. These are all thoughts that, while seeming logical to a child,
seem absurd and immature to adults.
The author does an impeccable job at developing Rachel’s character, so good a job, in fact, that
by the end of the passage, the reader nearly forgets that Rachel isn’t actually the author. Through
use of simple language and sentence structure, as well as a tone of naiveté and immaturity, the
author creates a very believable character in Rachel.
Sandra Cisneros, the author of Eleven, is an older woman speaking as herself at the age of
eleven. In this story, Cisneros uses many different literary techniques to truely write as an
eleven-year-old girl. With these techniques, the reader ultimately sees Rachel’s issue about the
sweater through the eyes of a child.
Many times throughout the story, Cisneros uses the authority of the teacher, Mrs. Price, to show
how a child sees her. Rachel believes Mrs. Price is of greater authority and never challenges her.
When Mrs. Price placed the red sweater on Rachel’s desk. Rachel just sits there. She doesn’t stop
the teacher or tell her it isn’t hers. Rachel obes her teacher’s authority, as a young child would
When Mrs. Price tells Rachel to put her sweater on, the young girl obeys the command without
one remark.
The author also uses a child’s perspective on how such an unimportant “problem” ruined
Rachel’s birthday. Children seem to make bigger deals about complications than an older person
would. Cisneros shows how Rachel’s entire birthday was ruined by a sweater that wasn’t hers.
Only a child would think their birthday was ruined over such tiny matters.
In this story, the author uses childish words to make the eleven-year-old character seem realistic.
She uses words such as “stupid” and “tippy-tip.” Rachel compares the sweater to a “jump rope”
and “a big red mountain.” The use of these terms shows that the speaker of the story is just about
eleven. The author also counts down from eleven to one many times. Children often repeat entire
lists, rather than just a few components.
Sandra Cisneros successfully characterized Rachel, the eleven-year-old, in Eleven. The reader
actually feels as if they are reading an autobiography from an eleven year old girl.
The story Eleven has to do with an eleven year old on her birthday. The story was written from
the perspective of Rachel. The speaker sounds very immature, naïve, and young. The author uses
a lot of great techniques to make the speaker sound like her.
In the story the speaker uses similes and metaphors that would be associated with a little kid. The
simile “rattling insid me like pennies in a tin Band-Aid box” is meant to enforce the fact that the
speaker is young. No grown adult would keep pennies in a small tin box. There are other similes
like getting a brain freeze from drinking milk too fast, that an adult speaker would not write
about.
The speaker’s vocabulary also characterizes the speaker. All the words in the short story are
small and simple words. She even calls other characters stupid and dumb. That is a very
immature thing to say but it is very common for children to say.
The way the speaker words certain phrases also makes her sound young. An adult would say I
am a certain every age below it. The speaker actually counts out all of the ages below eleven.
Also the speaker says she wishes she was hundred and two. Children always wish they were
older and older people wish they were younger.
All in all, the author does an excellent job at characterizing the speaker. The speaker is made to
look very immature and young. She accomplished that by using certain similes the wording, and
the vocabulary. Due to all these great techniques I felt like the speaker was eleven.
In the short story Eleven, Sandra Cisneros was literary and writing techniques to convey her
speaker, Rachel, as childish. In order to do this, Cisneros used a child’s phrases and grammar ro
make the reader see the speaker as a young girl/. The speaker is over dramatic, much lik an elven
year old, and is frustrated and upset over the smallest of issues. By making the main conflict of
the story an “ugly red sweater,” the author allows the reader to see how Rachel ses the smallest
things as a terrible event.
All throughout the story, the speaker Rachel, describes objects as “ugly” or “stupid.” Her
metaphors end similes for events and objects are dramatic to say the last, when she says the
sweater is sitting there “like a big red mountain,” or when saying she wishes she was 102 years
old. The author uses these childish phrases to show the reader exactly that. By using these, the
author is telling the reader that Rachel is a childish little girl, and this allows the reader to se
Rachel’s point of view more accurately.
Another tool that Cisneros uses is she makes Rachels actions and reactions into those of a child
displaying a “temper-tantrum.” Rachel is unable to say how she feels to an adult, so she whines,
cries, and repeats “Not mine, not mine, not mine” to herself. Rachel even acts as if the sweater is
a sickness, keeping as far from it as possible. Cisneros had her speaker act in those ways to show
the uncontrollable emotion felt by an 11 year old girl who feels she is being punished.
The final tool that the author uses to characterize her speaker was to make the central conflict
over a sweater. To most adults, the problem of a sweater not being yours is as simple and easy
task to fix and get over. However, to an eleven year old girl, being “stuck” with an “ugly red
sweater” is like becoming a social outkast for the rest of your life. By having Rachel’s biggest
problem as a sweater, the author displays how life is different through a child’s eyes. By showing
Rachel’s point of view, it is easy for the reader to see how juvenile and young Rachel is.
Throughout the short story, Eleven, Sandra Cisneros uses literary tools to characterize her
speaker as childish or juvenile. She uses childish terms and phrases to describe events, over
dramatizes everything, and makes the conflict over a small problem. By doing this the reader can
then see into the childish ways of her speaker.
Eleven is based off a young girl who is forced to wear an ugly jacket. It is in my belief however
that the author of Eleven is not young. I believe that the author used writing techniques such as
childish similes and childish words to channel the charachter, Rachel.
The author seems to go into the mind of a child, creating and exaggerating comaparisons of real
world objects (similes). She says the sweater is sitting “like a big red mountain.” She refers to
“pennies rattling in a band aid box.” Adults dont often use such comparisons, but children
frequently do.
Childish language is also a technique the author depicts through Rachel. Rachel constantly uses
the word stupid, whether referring to the jacket or Slyvia Salvidas. She also refers to her mother
as mama. These words are words used mostly by children like Rachel. The author is decieving
into thinking that she’s a kid.
Why would the author decieve us? The answer to that is to appeal to the prejudice in the readers
mind, and to form the concept of innocence associated with children. The author uses the
charachter as young Rachell because a child is more relateable to and incites more emotion.
Through rachel’s statements we feel the horror of her being humilated by the sweater, yet the
reader has to wonder whether the sweater is really a sweater at all. If the author is indeed older,
than th sweater can represent any dissatisfying shameful event in the authors life. What that is we
don’t know because the author uses childish wording similes to create the persona of Rachel, an
“eleven year old the age of three.”
In the short story “Eleven” the author talks about how turning eleven doesn’t make you feel any
different. The author uses many literary terms and techniques to help characterize the speaker,
Rachel. Some of the techniques the author uses are similes and imagery to describe Rachel.
In the story rachel describes herself as not only 11, but all other ages before that. The author uses
similes to describe objects and ideas to that of growing older. The author describes Rachel
getting older like an onion or the rings inside a trunk of a tree. Pretty much she’s saying that
getting old just adds to the trees rings which in this case could be her life. The author describes
rachel’s eleven years as pennies rattling inside a tin band-aid box. The reason she says this is
because those pennies are actually her problems that she wants to let out of her tin band aid box
which is her body. These are the problems of being 11.
The way the author uses imagery to describe Rachel’s character is through the red sweater being
old and ugly with plastic buttons meaning that it is a very old and used piece of clothing. The
sweater is depicted as having a cottage cheese smell and having an itchy feeling. All of these
descriptions are somewhat describing what he birthday is like. Its giving the idea that turning
eleven doesn’t really change much because you’ll still have those feelings you had when you
were 4, 6, 9, and so on. The final way the author used imagery was when she talked about Rachel
thinking that when she gets home everything will be okay even though it won’t be because even
though she’s older all her feelings and problems stick with her.
The author talked about how turning eleven doesnt get rid of all those childish, insecure feelings
someone has inside them. The author uses many literary terms to do this and each show how
rachels character was developed in this.
The author, Sandra Cisneros, uses much symbolism when describing the speaker. The red
sweater given to her for her birthday, and the concept of the girl’s response, indicates a sense of
hatred. The author also defines a sense of acknowledgment describing that the incident was
cohesive throughout her life.
The author also expresses repetition towards the speaker. Indicating all of the previous years
inside her, initially repeats her outlook on becoming another year older. She believes that age is
not a physical condition if individuals do not express all of the past years they have experienced
throughout their life.
The author expresses much parallelism when characterizing Rachel. She repeats that on her
birthday nigh her family will sing to her and they will eat cake. However, she also indicates that
when they sing it will be too late. This could easily identify that her birthday had already been
ruined.
In the short story “Eleven,” the speaker is Rachel, a school kid who tells us of her unfortunate
experience with a red sweater. In such a short time the main character is actually rather welldeveloped. Because of the author’s use of literary techniques, the speaker appears fearful,
childish, and wise.
We, as the audience, can almost feel Rachel’s fear and humiliation as she is forced to wear a
smelly, hideous sweater that doesn’t belong to her. We can feel the silly enveloping fear that
children feel over the slightest of things. Her word choice is childish, such as “That stupid
Phyllis Lopez, who is even bumber than Sylvia Saldivar.” Her wishing to be older and stronger,
and “one hundred and two” makes her appear scared and embarassed. We can tell from the word
choice that she is just a growing kid who is feeling small.
However, even through her embarassing event, we can tell that she is a smart kid. The speaker
has a theory that as you grow older, you are not changing your age, but rather adding another age
over the younger ones. She gives advice to her mom when she is sad that maybe she’s just
“feeling three.” Her use of analogies and similes like “the way you grow old is kind of like an
onion” makes her seem wise.
The whole story lets us inside the speaker’s mind. By doing this and by reading her thoughts and
feelings, we get a look into what type of character Rachel is. Her theory on ages is intelligent,
while her thoughts let us know that she is still just a kid.
In “Eleven,” many literary terms are used to show how the main character, Rachel, is feeling and
how she views objects in the world. The story has many similes that show a vivid of what she is
dealing as well as repition and imagery to add depth to her experience.
With the similies in the story, she compares age to spare change in a band-aid box and to layers
of an onion and/or tree. By referring to age this way you begin to realize that when it comes to
age, she doesn’t think very highly of it. It seems as if it is another year is passing by and you get
older not by how you feel but based on a certain date. She also uses similies to describe the red
sweater. She constantly compares the sweater to negative things such as the arms being like a
jump rope and how it could hurt men by wearing it. This shows that the sweater, to Rachel, is a
major obstacle or feat she must overcome.
Repetition is used in this story once when she talks about her mama baking her a cake and
everyone singing happy birthday to her. In the first part, when she says this, she is very excited
and can’t hardly wait. However, when she repeats the statement she is a tad depressed. Due to
having such a difficult day, she doesn’t want to celebrate this day but forget about it as quickly
as possible with imagery, she uses that during the time of when she was in the classroom and
was completley embarrassed. By using a dialogue during this part of the text, you get a mental
picture of what that moment was like and how she couldn’t wait for it to end.
Due to “Eleven” having certain literary terms such as similies, repetition, and imagery, the
audience was able to get a clear picture of what Rachel is thinking and feeling without having
these literary terms or any, all we would know about her would be that it was her birthday and
she was turning eleven. These literary terms add depth to the character and make the audience
view her as a real person telling us her story.
Imagine having to wear something hideous, and not having the confidence to argue that it isn’t
yours. Rachel in the short story “eleven,” makes it evident that it is stressful being young. She is
attacked by a minute situation but because she said, “… I wish I didn’t have only eleven years
rattling inside me like pennies in a tin Band-Aid box.” Rachel uses a simile to exaggerate her
emotions.
The speaker induces our sense of smell by referring to the sweater as the odor of cottage cheese.
She tugs on our sense of sight by applying characteristics of a jump rope to the mangled,
distasteful, red sweater. Most would just put the sweater on the back of their chair. But Rachel
felt that it was necessary to have hers hang like a “waterfall,” off of her desk.
Sandra Cisneros put us into the relatively familiar setting of a possibly fifth grade class. You
could picture small kids giggling at Rachel. Some of us could ever be able to relate to her. The
writer informs us of Rachels drastic encounter, and also includes feelings of joy and comfort. By
adding that Rachel’s parents would treat her like a princess, because it was her birthday.
From reading this short story you picture a skinny and fragile girl. An obviously distressed girl
because even on her birthday she mages to emphasize that she’s also ten, nine, eight, seven, six,
five, four, three, two, and one. You can imagine Rachel’s crocodile tears aching to burst through
her eyes. And the feeling of defeat the fact that even at twelve, you still behave like your three.
That can do a lot to a person’s self esteem. Visualize walking into school elated and leaving
elegiac.
Eleven is a story of mixed feelings. The emotions that everyone feels at one time or another.
Although Rachel is a fictional character, someone out there lives with a horrific memory similar
to hers everyday. You’d be surprised what remains in your concious when your grown and past
the age of eleven.
In the short story “eleven,” the author uses many literary techniques to characterize Rachel. The
different techniques that the author uses are repitition of certain phrases, and imagery. These
techniques give a hint as to how the speaker’s mind works.
By repeating several different phrases throughout the short story, we can tell that the speaker
might have some sort of anxiety/psychological problem. This is because she thinks “Not mine,
not mine, not mine.” After the sweater is put down on her desk, and for some reason, it makes
her feel sick. She also keeps saying that it is her birthday and saying what will happen when she
gets home so it seems like she is trying to convince herself that everything will be okay.
This short story is full of imagery. It is used to describe the sweater, how it feels to cry, and how
Rachel feels sick when the sweater is on her desk. This technique is showing that Rachel is a
detail-oriented and creative person. The words used in the descriptions and also the descriptions
themselves show that Rachel is of a young age (eleven… duh) because they are things that
someone of a younger age would say. An example of this is how Rachel describes her head
hurting “like when you drink milk too fast.” The word choice of the author gives an indication
that Rachel is meant to be portrayed as having a lower maturity level. The author used words
such as “stupid,” “dumber,” and even made up words like “tippy-tip.”
The author’s use of imagery and the repetition of certain …..
In the short story Eleven the author uses many literary techniques to portray the speaker, Rachel.
The author uses parallelism, imagery, and tone to show the readers exactly how she felt that day.
The author uses parallelism very often the short story. She mostly uses it to portray a young
thought instead of an older person. The author also uses parallelism as a way to point out
important facts about the story and how they relate to the speaker themselves. The writting style
is enhanced through these parallelism’s.
The next technique the author uses is imagery. When explaining the red sweater she uses many
details about how horrifying it is, and when she adds the part about it smelling like cottage
cheese the reader can almost duplicate the sweater.
The authors tone suggests that it is an eleven year old girl writting the story. She explains things
as stupid and elaborates counting down from eleven, which suggests a juevenille tone. When in
reality the author is older and is flashing back to a memory, reliving how she would have acted
to give the reader a better understanding. The author plays the role of an eleven year old.
In the short story “Eleven” the author, Sandra Cisneros utilizes several literary techniques to
characterize Rachel. The three main techniques were similes, imagery, and parallelism. All three
of these techniques were used to show Rachel was a young girl.
The character Rachel describes ideas or objects with similes. Everything always relates to
something else. Rachel compares things with very childish idea. All of these give the impression
Rachel is young.
The author uses a lot of imagery as well. However the imagery is not extremely complex but
instead is childish and does not use large words or hard to grasp ideas. The author uses words
such as ugly and stupid which also gives the idea Rachel is a child.
In this short story there is also a lot of parallelism. The character repeats herself several times
which is a tendency of young children. Using parallelism also shows she is passionate about the
subject. However, in this case what she is passionate about is very trivial to adults and teens. To
her, it’s the end of the world. This as well shows Rachel is young.
The author used literary terms that would show childish traits to characterize Rachel. The
imagery was like a child’s description. The similes were descriptive and the use of parallelism
showed repition. These literary terms were utilized to show that Rachel is in fact “Eleven.”