Summary Of Eleven By Sandra Cisneros

In the short story “Eleven” by Sandra Cisneros, Rachel’s attitude is anxious and pessimistic using selective details and imagery. Throughout the short story, there is a continuous theme, birthdays. While most people cannot wait for their birthdays, Rachel feels quite differently. Rachel not only thinks she's eleven, but also ten, 9 , 8 , 7 , and so on. She thinks that when you “sit on your mama’s lap because you're scared,...that's five.”(6-7) Rachel’s anxiety and pessimistic outlook on life shows Rachel’s thoughts on getting older.

Rachel is very anxious on her eleventh birthday. She seems to feel very uncomfortable with the meaning of aging up. Sandra Cisneros uses selective detail to show that Rachel is uneasy. Rachel says, “how long till lunchtime...how long till I can take the red sweater...bunch it”(38-39), this proves that Rachel does not feel comfortable in a simple situation. She also has an interesting view on birthdays. Rachel feels almost confused at the thought of celebrating being a year older. She says that “...you might say something stupid,...the part of you that’s still ten.”(6). This is very unusual way of thinking for a girl her age.

Cisneros uses a great amount of imagery throughout “Eleven” to help create the atmosphere. Rachel describes the sweater, which Rachel feel anxious about, as an “ugly sweater with red plastic buttons and a collar and sleeves all stretched out like you could use it for a jump rope.” (21-22). Cisneros’ good use of