Short Summary Of Eleven By Sandra Cisneros

The story “Eleven,” shows the morning of a girl’s eleventh birthday. However, her day turns sour when she faces an unexpected problem that morning. In the story, the author, Sandra Cisneros, uses imagery, childish diction, and first person point of view to characterize Rachel, the main character.
Rachel’s imagery of the red sweater on her desk shows that she still has a child's mentality. Rachel describes “the big red mountain” as “itchy and smell[ing] like cottage cheese.” The author could have choosen stronger diction, but does not. This shows that while Rachel wishes she was older, she still has a long way to go to be older.
Cisneros’ childish diction reflects that Rachel is still a child. When Rachel pushes the sweater “to the tippy-tip corner of her desk,” the use of “tippy-tip” shows that Rachel is still a child. She also says the sweater is “itchy and full of germs.” The author could have choosen stronger diction, such as irritating or disgusting, but does not. The childish diction reflects that while Rachel wants to be older, she has a child's mentality.

The author uses first person point-of-view to show that Rachel isn’t ready to grow up.

Rachel repeats that if she “was one hundred and two” she would have a response to Ms. Price, her teacher. Rachel also compares her action of crying infront of the class to a three-year old. Towards the end of the story, Rachel wishes she “was anything but eleven.” Rachel comparing herself to other ages shows that while she wishes to grow up, she still acts like a kid.
In “Eleven,” Sandra Cisneros uses imagery, childish diction, and first person point-of-view to characterize Rachel as someone who wishes they were older, but still acts like a

child.