Sandra Cisneros Eleven

In the short story “Eleven”, Sandra Cisneros depicts Rachel as a shy and awkward child who is alienated in her social life due to being insecure. Cisneros uses various figurative devices and language to show Rachel’s exterior personality as well as her wise, but arrogant thoughts.
Rachel’s lack of dialogue showing her adversity to speaking up and going against the social norms shows the reader that she is insecure about her personality. She is so opposed to speaking against her teacher, an authority figure, that “when [she] opens [her] mouth nothing comes out.” Even after Mrs. Price puts the sweater on her desk she is “feeling sick inside” and then “all of a sudden [she is] crying in front of everyone.” Rachel deciding not to speak even for such a small event shows that she is insecure about her opinions, and would rather not share than potentially be mocked. Her lack of support from any peers in the class shows that she is usually a shy introvert that is generally inarticulate around other people. When she starts crying after being forced to …show more content…
Her thoughts show that she is quite wise, however she is also demeaning towards other characters and thinks she is the smartest person in her class. The author portrays this by using repetition. Rachel has the insightful idea that “when you're eleven, you're also ten, and nine, and eight, and seven, and six, and five, and four, and three, and two, and one.” Cisneros repeating this phrase throughout the text showcases Rachel’s perceptive idea that one is not what age they are, but all the ages below it as well. However, as wise as Rachel is she also is arrogant. The author uses alliteration and repetition to demonstrate that Rachel thinks her classmates are stupid. Rachel’s hurtful thoughts include “stupid Sylvia Saldivar says” and “ stupid Phyllis Lopez” who she thinks is even “dumber than Sylvia