Juxtaposition In Eleven By Sandra Cisneros

“Eleven” Juxtaposition Analysis

Many people do not like getting older and want to restore their youth. In the short story, “Eleven,” the main character, Rachel, struggles with growing up while she still feels like her younger self. Her younger self shows when her teacher does not believe her when she says a sweater is not hers, then makes her put the sweater on. In the short story, “Eleven,” author Sandra Cisneros uses juxtaposition to develop the theme of mental age versus physical age.

The author, Sandra Cisneros, uses juxtaposition many times in the story. One time is close to the start of the story, where the narrator, Rachel, compares being eleven and not knowing what to do, to wishing she were one hundred two years old and knowing

For example, Rachel narrates, “This is when I wish I wasn’t eleven, because all the years inside of me — ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two one — are pushing at the back of my eyes when I put one arm through the sweater that smells like cottage cheese, and then the other arm through the other and stand there with my arms apart like if the sweater hurts me and it does, all itchy and full of germs that aren’t even mine.” In this she is comparing all her ages to the sweater hurting her. The ages that she is feeling are ages she has already been, which is showing she is getting older, but she still feels mentally younger. Since she is getting older the sweater should not hurt her and she should be more mature with how it feels, but she is feeling all the ages underneath her making her feel hurt. The sweater is a huge symbol in this story for Rachel. It is symbolizing the pull of growing up, but also the pull of her youth holding her back. A source from Gale helps support this by saying, “While the main event of the story, the mistaken attribution of a ratty red sweater to Rachel, might seem to be insignificant, for Rachel it proves a very important episode.” The sweater wasn’t that important to Mrs. Price, so she did not care whose it actually was, she just wanted to get rid of it. However, for Rachel this sweater incident was an important thing that happened to her

This whole incident was because it was her birthday. The next example of juxtaposition represents this very well, “since when Mrs. Price put the sweater on my desk, finally lest go, and all the sudden I’m crying in front of everybody. I wish I was invisible but I’m not. I’m eleven and it’s my birthday and I’m crying like I’m three in front of everyone.” This example of juxtaposition is comparing Rachel’s birthday, which should be happy, to her being sad and crying. On your birthday you should be happy and people should make you want to be happy, however, Mrs. Price made Rachel cry and upset on her joyful day. Another use of juxtaposition in this example was comparing Rachel’s birthday to wanting to be invisible. On your birthday, you should get or want attention, but Rachel just wants to be invisible and hide. This juxtaposition displays the theme the best because it shows Rachel mentally act like a three year old, as she cries and wants to hide from everyone. The source from Gale supports this reasoning by saying, “Although she is innocent, she has been treated as guilty, the victim of an egregious injustice at the hands of a person who should have been a trusted adult.” The connection of this quote to Rachel feeling all her emotions is if Mrs. Price just believed Rachel in the beginning, she would not be feeling so small. Many adults tend to not believe children when they say something is not theirs, so many times