Turning Eleven

Authors note: This is a analysis on Sandra Cisnerros' Eleven.  Rachel just turned 11, but for her, that's not a big deal at all.

Eleven may seem like a big deal to most kids, but to Rachel it's just another birthday.  She doesn't think it's such a special day because she still feels like she's 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2 and 1.  The author makes you wan't to read this short story because of her figurative language, she uses a lot of similes throughout the piece.  This story would be very boring without her similes.  It would basically sound very monotone and a worthless story to write.  But with her figurative sentences, it adds spunk to the piece and spices it up.

The author includes multiple similes to engage you into the story.  She says, "like an onion or like the rings inside a tree trunk."  She is comparing growing older to an onion, or the rings inside a tree trunk because the rings inside a tree, you can see all the different ages.  Rachel doesn't feel like turning 11 is such a big deal because she still feels like all her younger ages.  The overall tone of the piece would have to be annoyed and frustrated.  It's annoyed because Rachel's teacher puts this sweater on her desk and Rachel knows it's not hers.  She tries to tell her teacher it's not hers, but her teacher just walks away.  The tone would also be frustrated because Rachel can't get rid of the awful sweater on her desk and she still doesn't feel any different age wise.  

While the author included a lot of similes, she also painted a great image in your head while you read her short story.  When she says "I pushed the ugly red sweater to the edge of my desk and it looks like a waterfall."  When I read that I thought of Niagara Falls and a girl sitting in a desk pushing away a really ugly red sweater.  I also thought of kids teasing the girl because she was just yelled at by the teacher and the fact that she owns a hideous sweater.  I would hate to be in her situation especially on my birthday because on your birthday you want to be happy and be around the people that love you, but in Rachel's position she was in a classroom filled  with kids that are annoying her and a teacher that refuses to take the sweater off of Rachel's desk.  The imagery throughout the piece was strong because of her figurative language.  Her similes help draw an image in your head of a sense of annoyance and frustration.

Even though the author creates great images throughout the story, the story also has a good meaning in the end to tie up the story.  With all the similes and the figurative language, the meaning is really shown at the end.  I think what the author was trying to say was that even if you have a terrible day and everything goes the wrong way, there's always something good in the end.  Rachel felt like she wanted to be 102 years old, anything but 11.  When her teacher put that sweater on her desk, it really made her upset and she just wanted to brake down like a 3 year old and cry, which she did do.  Even the littlest thing on your birthday can make you cry.  That's how I felt Rachel felt because I mean she started crying over having a sweater on her desk.  If it weren't her birthday, I don't think she would've cared as much.  In the end of the story, she went home to her mom's cake and her birthday song. 

The authors good meaning towards the end  really wraps up the story.  With Rachel turning 11 and everything that happened at school, she was happy to come home to cake and singing.  Even though she didn't have a good day at school and she wasn't happy about turning 11, she was excited at the end of the day.  Sandra Cisnerros'  figurative language added spice to the story as well as imagery.  It all helped create a scene in your head.  Lastly, the overall tone and figurative language portrayed a lot in this particular short story and helped readers get engaged.