What is “Eleven” saying about the world of children vs the world of adults?
The world of children is often thought of as trivial, insignificant, etc. compared to the issues and concerns that involve adults. In the short story “Eleven” by Sandra Cisneros is about Rachel’s eleventh birthday and reveals that children are hesitant to stand up to adult authority figures. Mrs. Price confronts Rachel with an ugly red sweater that she believes belongs to her. When Rachel is unable to stick up for herself, she is forced to wear the sweater that eventually ruins her birthday. Rachel feels powerless over her own situation. For Rachel, age is based on the experiences one gains over the years versus the actual age. Rachel explains how age and maturity is built up over years, and emphasizes how “you expect to feel eleven, but you don’t… you feel like you’re still ten.” She is expected to act more mature because of her age, but Rachel hasn’t experienced life as an eleven year old yet. She thinks “the way you grow old is kind of like… my little wooden dolls that fit one inside the other.” This analogy shows that the way one acts is drawn from all their ages as a …show more content…
Mrs. Price asks the class about a sweater that had been left in her class for over a month. Sylvia Saldivar explains that she thinks the sweater is Rachel’s, to which Rachel thinks “I wish I were one hundred and two… I’d have known what to say.” This shows that Rachel doesn’t believe she has enough life experience to tell Mrs. Price that the sweater isn’t hers. She’s insecure about her ability to handle problems at her age. After Rachel stutters out an unconvincing argument, Mrs. Price abuses her authority as a teacher when she replies with “Of course it’s yours, I remember you wearing it once.” This shows that she would lie to find an easy end to the problem, and Rachel can’t do anything about it because Mrs. Price is the authority figure, the
The world of children is often thought of as trivial, insignificant, etc. compared to the issues and concerns that involve adults. In the short story “Eleven” by Sandra Cisneros is about Rachel’s eleventh birthday and reveals that children are hesitant to stand up to adult authority figures. Mrs. Price confronts Rachel with an ugly red sweater that she believes belongs to her. When Rachel is unable to stick up for herself, she is forced to wear the sweater that eventually ruins her birthday. Rachel feels powerless over her own situation. For Rachel, age is based on the experiences one gains over the years versus the actual age. Rachel explains how age and maturity is built up over years, and emphasizes how “you expect to feel eleven, but you don’t… you feel like you’re still ten.” She is expected to act more mature because of her age, but Rachel hasn’t experienced life as an eleven year old yet. She thinks “the way you grow old is kind of like… my little wooden dolls that fit one inside the other.” This analogy shows that the way one acts is drawn from all their ages as a …show more content…
Mrs. Price asks the class about a sweater that had been left in her class for over a month. Sylvia Saldivar explains that she thinks the sweater is Rachel’s, to which Rachel thinks “I wish I were one hundred and two… I’d have known what to say.” This shows that Rachel doesn’t believe she has enough life experience to tell Mrs. Price that the sweater isn’t hers. She’s insecure about her ability to handle problems at her age. After Rachel stutters out an unconvincing argument, Mrs. Price abuses her authority as a teacher when she replies with “Of course it’s yours, I remember you wearing it once.” This shows that she would lie to find an easy end to the problem, and Rachel can’t do anything about it because Mrs. Price is the authority figure, the