Eleven (By: Sandra Cisneros)

502 Words3 Pages
Sandra Cisneros uses a variety of literary techniques to portray the character of eleven-year-old Rachel. The most notable of these are the similes which are used throughout the excerpt. They are used to help the reader feel specific moods, visualize different perspectives and describe Rachel’s actions and thinking. Rachel starts out explaining that she doesn’t feel as if she is eleven, she simply feels like every other age she has ever been all rolled into one. This is illustrated perfectly by her comparisons of age to onions, tree rings, and wooden dolls as if each age fits into the next as she states “when you’re eleven, you’re also ten, nine eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two and one.”(Cisneros 1) These items also show readers her child-like perspective combined with adult insights. They are familiar to both the character and the reader, and are a tangible representation of her attitude towards her age. On the day Rachel turns eleven she is blamed to be the supposed owner of an ugly sweater that isn’t even hers. The red sweater is a simple thing, and yet it weighs so heavily in Rachel’s mind that she compares it to “a big mountain” (2) on her desk, as if the piece of old clothing is actually looming above her and threatening to overpower her. It seems like a big obstacle that helps describe the sweater situations from Rachel’s point of view to the reader. As the sweater gets pushed off Rachel’s desk, it dangles “like a waterfall”(2) adding a feeling of anxiety showing Rachel’s eagerness to dispose of the sweater as well as contributing to the simple image and also showing the peril Rachel feels she is in. Both these similes in the short story help describe how Rachel feels and paint a picture of the problem so that the reader can imagine Rachel inching further and further away from the sweater. Rachel eventually reached a bursting point and starts
Open Document