Eleven By Sandra Cisneros Essay

The story “Eleven” is a very captivating read. The author, Sandra Cisneros, uses many literary techniques throughout the course of the story to characterize Rachel. Cisneros uses techniques such as syntax, symbolism, and genre. Throughout the story, Cisneros arranges her words and phrases to create well formed sentences to allow her work to flow well; this is also referred to as syntax. At the beginning of the story, Cisneros’ uses long complex sentences. These sentences characterize Rachel, when she is feeling impartial. She felt that her birthday was an important day, until an incident she encountered at school. When Rachel becomes upset at school, Cisneros uses sentence fragments in Rachel’s dialogue. Her use of syntax demonstrates to the readers Rachel’s innocence and that her birthday was not as perfect as she had hoped it would be. Another literary technique used to characterize Rachel was Cisneros use of symbolism. The red sweater is a symbol of the power people have over Rachel.When people hold power over her, Rachel is afraid to speak up. Like the small child that she is, her voice becomes soft and weak. Mrs. Price, Rachel’s teacher, places the sweater on her desk, and made her wear it. Rachel never argued with Mrs. Price. The next symbol was her Happy Birthday. For young children, birthdays are one of the most important days …show more content…
The event that took place on Rachel’s eleventh birthday allowed her to gain experience about the world. She does not begin the story as a small child, and become an adult by the end. Cisneros choice of genre allowed Rachel to mature. The story demonstrates small steps Rachel had taken to learn about the real world. There is no distinguished break between the different stages of life. Although Rachel is young, through the genre choice, she grows. Her ages become layers like “rings inside a tree trunk.” She has not fully come of age, but she becomes new

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