Sandra Cisneros: "Eleven" (1991)
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“Eleven” by Sandra Cisneros (1991)
What they don’t understand about birthdays and what they never tell you is that when you’re eleven, you’re also ten, and nine, and eight, and seven, and six, and five, and four, and three, and two, and one. And when you wake up on your eleventh birthday you expect to feel eleven, but you don’t. You open your eyes and everything’s just like yesterday, only it’s today. And you don’t feel eleven at all. You feel like you’re still ten. And you are—underneath the year that makes you eleven.
I think this is an interesting perception in regards to age because when we have a birthday we do not feel different immediately. Nothing seems to have changed except it is a different day but things like routine are the same. The author is saying that the reason for this is because we are still all of our previous ages underneath our current one.
I agree with this as even though we call ourselves an entire year older than we would have the day before our birthday we still have only aged a single day.
I can relate to this. Every year growing up when my birthday came close I was expecting it to be a big deal, but then the day finally came and I didn’t feel any different.
I feel the same way that you do Carter, each birthday comes and goes, but I don’t feel any older.
Whenever I was younger I feel that I may have perceived myself feeling different on my birthday. However, as I have gotten older I do not feel different, as you said Carter. Especially transitioning from the ages of 14, then to 15, finally 16, being able to drive, but still not feeling any different. I do not know if we will ever feel different on our birthdays for the rest of our lives.
I have felt this way too. When I was younger, birthdays seemed like a big deal. Now, it just seems like a normal day. Now that I am 17, I can drive and I have more freedoms. However, I do not feel any different.
It does feel like whenever your birthday comes around, its just the same old day. I think that later in the year that you have a birthday, it starts to feel like you are older because of the new responsibilities, but not until you get presented with those.
Within the first paragraph I found a very important deeper meaning I believe the writer was trying to make. She makes mention to the expectance of feeling older on ones birthday, but one never feels any older. I believe this to be true since one can only truly feel older when the world around them has changed from what they remember, which usually does not become recognizable to the person until it has been decades.
While I was reading this paragraph I began to relate more to it. When my birthday comes around every year it feels the same. I have the same routine and do the same thing. The only thing that chances this day from any other day is that we might have a little celebration. It takes me a couple of days to realize that I am a different age.
The first sentence really struck me as something very interesting. I remember being younger and asking if my sister would talk “normal” after she turned 5 or something. (she was still talking in that childish lisp, I suppose) and My mother had to explain to me that aging didn’t work like that
I feel like I my have a different view than most people when it comes to the them of this paragraph, but in this paragraph I feel as if the theme is you do not have to listen to what people tell you. I feel like it is about not letting people boss you around and make you feel a certain way, because at the end of the day you are in control of yourself. I feel like the text indicates this when it says “what they never tell you is”. For some reason this really stuck out to me.
I think it’s the same for this article could be that when you grow up your body gets older, but your brain never does. All the versions of yourself from all ages live inside your brain at all times.
There is one point in the book where Morrie says, “part of me is every age… I am every age, up to my own.” I found a connection here with this line because they’re very similar. Sandra says she is also 1, 2, 3, 4, 5…10, 11.
This is an interesting take on aging, but one I have always identified with. I believe the first sentence is speaking on the fact that you are a sum of every experience you have had. You are the sum of every age you have ever been. This is the only way you could have gotten to where you are now: growth. Not necessarily bad growth or good growth, but growth in general. This reminds me of the quote,“We are the sum of all of our parts,” from the novel Flipped.
This theme of collective age is prominent throughout the entire piece. When you turn 11 you are all your past ages and selves in a sense, when you cry you become 3 again and when you get to the smart 11 is only when you’ve turned 12. As one might progress past age 11 you will consistently also hold these past years and ages.
The first paragraph of Rachel’s story talks about growing up physically, but not mentally and emotionally. This part of being a kid is one of the hardest, because you feel like you should automatically “feel” older as soon as your birthday begins.
It’s funny because if we really think about our birthdays on a larger scale, it is really just another day in our lives. But societal standards say we should celebrate this day because it has been X amount of years we have been on this planet.
Do we see the comment on aging that is happening here? “Don’t you see, Mitch? I am every age up to my own. How can I be jealous of where you are when I have been there myself?”
Although I knew I had heard it before I had forgotten where it had come from. The age thing really sticks with me though.
This thought by Sandra Cisneros is very relatable because I have had many people ask me if I feel older on my birthday, and I always tell them I don’t.
Every year it’s my birthday I feel the same nothing comes over me that I’m one year older. I wonder if that will change on an “important” age like eighteen.
In the first paragraph, Sandra Cisneros talks about waking up and not feeling like your eleven years old on your birthday. The sadness of never experiencing that feeling on your special day can make someone feel down. It can make someone feel like it’s not going to change from one year to another, like it said in the last line of the paragraph.
At the age my classmates and i are now we might take something like a new birthday for granted, you never feel different on you birthday you just gained a new title that can mean more freedom or ect. but we should take aging for granted. I heard a saying that stuck with me ‘today your older than you have ever been but as young as you’ll ever be "
Like some days you might say something stupid, and that’s the part of you that’s still ten. Or maybe some days you might need to sit on your mama’s lap because you’re scared, and that’s the part of you that’s five. And maybe one day when you’re all grown up maybe you will need to cry like if you’re three, and that’s okay. That’s what I tell Mama when she’s sad and needs to cry. Maybe she’s feeling three.
Do we really have to justify our sadness when we’re older? Do we have to tell ourselves we are feeling three, that only three year-olds are allowed to cry like this? That we can’t seek help from our moms unless we feel five?
What if I don’t feel three whenever I cry? What if I feel the age that I am, would that just mean I am crying like normal?
While I recognize that this paragraph is not trying to say these things as a negative, I’d rather approach a different view. Why does society think that it’s okay to force tears back and to never rely on others? There shouldn’t be that unspoken rule, one that if you break it, you must scramble to find an excuse as to why it was broken.
Things may make us feel child-like, but we should always be accepted to cry at any age, or to feel vulnerable well into adulthood. Society’s views on intimacy and vulnerability hinder people’s ability to feel and emote.
I love the way the author describes this. I see a theme coming through here. When one turns 10, they will always have those ten years under their belt. They will always be able to say that they have lived through ages 0-9 before that double-digit day. Experience never fades.
I have never thought about approaching life this way and I think it is really interesting that I could just think to myself oh that was just my younger self thinking or saying something dumb.
I think there are going to be moments and different things that happen that are going to take us back to an age, or are going to make us feel like a kid again. This is a good example that you might say something stupid and will take you back to being 10, when you might have said dumb things.
As we are getting older and rounding the corner towards adulthood, we are all looking towards our guardians for guidance and reassurance.
I think Lindsay makes a good point. As we grow up, we watch our guardians or parents to see how they act or talk. As a child, you copy your parents/guardians when they do something. Kids even say they want to be just like their parents when they grow up.
You grow up and yet you don’t, you do still stay the same person as you grow. I’m 17 but really I am just 16. WE all still cry like we are young, and get our feelings hurt like we are 7. It’s how life is.
I feel that as we get older we never lose the person who we were when we were young. You are never taught how to cry like a 17 year old…It always goes back to the feelings of when you were a child. It never gets easier, we just get better at hiding it. I agree as you said Mia, that truly is just how life is.
Who we are from a young age doesn’t go away. Personalities are developed from a younger age and as we grow older, our personalities don’t change just our view on the world. Different expectations of life tend to influence the way we perceive emotions and the ability to express them. Everyone has emotions that need to be expressed and society tends to enforce the idea that once you become a certain age, that is no longer expectable.
Because the way you grow old is kind of like an onion or like the rings inside a tree trunk or like my little wooden dolls that fit one inside the other, each year inside the next one. That’s how being eleven years old is.
I like the quote, “Growing old is mandatory, growing up is optional” by Chili Davis. You can still have your moments where you act like a kid or do something you did when you were five. I still will go back and watch Disney movies and my 42 year old mom will watch them with me. Aging is just another year to learn something more about this world or you. Your mind will keep growing with the years but you will still have that younger you inside of you.
You most certainly can find the difference in growing up and growing old. I feel like people can forget that there is one sometimes. As we grow old, we’re told to grow up as if it isn’t an option.
Right here the author is trying to say that life is like the rings of a tree, you grow older but you keep the knowledge and the ages you have already past. growing older is just like adding to a collection of past years, like a new achievement reached in life.
This is very insightful and a great way to look at life.
Look how the simile becomes a part of that “figurative language set.” The figure presented here is an “onion” or “tree trunk.”
It is just like each year inside of the next one. You are still 1,2,3,10 and so on. That dose not leave you, its just a number change.
I really like the way the author makes the comparison of life to the layers of an onion or the rings within a tree. because just like those layers and rings the layers don’t simply disappear they just get buried deeper within under your more recent years. Your childish self will never disappear it will just be covered up and hidden.
I really do agree with Trey and he did a great job explaining it. I think this is a great comparison. Also Trey mentioning that your childish self will never disappear and it will just be covered up is very scary to think about considering how we are almost seniors and its almost time to fully be adults.
You don’t feel eleven. Not right away. It takes a few days, weeks even, sometimes even months before you say Eleven when they ask you. And you don’t feel smart eleven, not until you’re almost twelve. That’s the way it is.
Even if I am currently sixteen, I feel nothing like sixteen, both mentally, emotionally, and socially. I’m short but i still look sixteen. The reason why I say this is because it takes time. With time you grow older, wiser, and much more intelligent. That’s why we do not see the results from the workout we just had a day ago.
The feeling of turning a year older hits you when you have another birthday. Sometimes we forget that we grow old.
I completely agree with you here I still feel this way somwtimes.
This would certainly connect to TWM with Morrie suggesting to Mitch that age is more of a mindset than a setting on the calendar (though it is both).
In this sentence the girl says that “It takes a few days, weeks even, sometimes even months before you say eleven when they ask you.” I completely agree with what she said, I feel like I don’t quite register in my mind that I am getting older quicker than I think I am.
Often people associate benchmarks of getting older (being able to drive, vote, drink, etc.) with the ages a person is allowed to do them. This extends to subtler aspects of aging, like moving up a grade or generally “getting smarter.” Rachel feels that she is not living up to “smart eleven” as the story continues and her emotions make her feel younger.
Only today I wish I didn’t have only eleven years rattling inside me like pennies in a tin Band-Aid box. Today I wish I was one hundred and two instead of eleven because if I was one hundred and two I’d have known what to say when Mrs. Price put the red sweater on my desk. I would’ve known how to tell her it wasn’t mine instead of just sitting there with that look on my face and nothing coming out of my mouth.
The narrator wishes she were older so she would have had a comment or an approach to a recent conflict. Does this wisdom come with age?
The narrator is describing her self-described lack of personal power to navigate this situation. Remember that power is generally a POLITICAL construct.
Here the girl wishes to be older, so that she would know what to do in her situation. She seeks the wisdom that comes with age.
She equates wisdom with age, like each year the brain’s capacity grows more. Personal power is also equated with age here.
“Whose is this?” Mrs. Price says, and she holds the red sweater up in the air for all the class to see. “Whose? It’s been sitting in the coatroom for a month.”
“Not mine,” says everybody. “Not me.” “It has to belong to somebody,”
Mrs. Price keeps saying, but nobody can remember. It’s an ugly sweater with red plastic buttons and a collar and sleeves all stretched out like you could use it for a jump rope. It’s maybe a thousand years old and even if it belonged to me I wouldn’t say so.
As we learn later, the coat actually belongs to Phyllis Lopez, a girl who is supposedly “even dumber than Sylvia Saldivar.” Our main character, Rachel, doesn’t seem to be fond of Phyllis, thinking her embarrassing experience is Lopez’s fault. But I think we could take a different look at it. When the teacher announced the sweater, the girl could have said it belonged to her at anytime. However, everyone thought it was ugly so it’s no wonder she spoke up until after the bell. While Rachel thought it was a purposefully hurtful decision to keep quiet, maybe Lopez was trying to protect herself.
Maybe because I’m skinny, maybe because she doesn’t like me, that stupid Sylvia Saldivar says, “I think it belongs to Rachel.” An ugly sweater like that all raggedy and old, but Mrs. Price believes her. Mrs. Price takes the sweater and puts it right on my desk, but when I open my mouth nothing comes out.
This comment made by Rachel’s classmate Sylvia is a common example of verbal bullying. Sylvia knew full well that the sweater was not Rachel’s, but she said that to give her issues.
If it was my birthday and this happened, I would not be too happy either. It is upsetting to know how some kids find bullying others refreshing. Rachel was minding her own business,not wanting any trouble, and at first she was happy on her birthday to get to have a cake at the end of the day.
These are things that still happen to this day is we think people don’t like us for how we look. We hate on others because in one way or another we are insecure about our image.
The narrator experiences middle-school drama here, just girls picking on girls. This could be seen as a social theme, that she feels lesser than Sylvia because Sylvia belittles her.
Do we ever really know why “that kid” in the class doesn’t like us? Who is giving these “reasons” to our narrator? Are these self-perceived?
This quote stuck out to me because this comment is something almost everyone has experienced at one point in their life. This line relates to so many people and I believe this is why the author included it. The social aspect of school has always been a tricky subject for some people and comments like these at any age impacts everyone it is said to. This simple, but effective word choice has the power to engage the audience and enforce sympathy for Rachel because so many people around the world understand what this comment does to someone’s mental state.
I think that Katie described the meaning of this quote very well, and it shows that we all have felt this way in school.
“That’s not, I don’t, you’re not…Not mine.” I finally say in a little voice that was maybe me when I was four.
I feel like this kid is putting too much pressure on herself. It seems like she expects so much out of herself now that she’s 11. She expects herself to act 11. When really, there’s no real way to act 11. You just grow into your age naturally. Both physically and mentally. Honestly, I feel bad for her. I hope by the end of the story she cuts herself some slack and just has fun while still being a kid. That’s something I wish 11-year-old me knew at the time.
I do understand what you are pointing out, but when you’re a child the only things you think about… Growing up. you cannot wait to grow up, and when you want grow up that is the only thing you want to do. In retrospect, we should all have appreciated our childhood a little more, but that’s what 17 year old me is saying, not 11 year old me.
“Of course it’s yours, ”Mrs. Price says. “I remember you wearing it once.”
Some struggle with being a child is how you’re not allowed to have a discussion with an adult. You can only listen, if you refute or try to change their mind you’re labeled as disrespectful. When an adult says you do something you MUST do it or else you’re going to suffer consequences.
How convenient that Mrs. Price remembers that the sweater was, in fact, Rachels, right after a student brings it up.
Sometimes people just want to put things in their rightful spots, and will create any reason to place it there. Mrs. Price is obviously wrong about who’s sweater it is, but she convinced herself already and cannot be persuaded otherwise.
I find it interesting that it is assumed that this is Rachels. It’s like some sort of punishment. “Take this! It’s yours! I’ve seen you wear something similar so its yours.”
It is very easy to assume and just go on with your day. Assuming doesn’t take up much space in the ol memory bank.
Because she’s older and the teacher, she’s right and I’m not. Not mine, not mine, not mine, but Mrs. Price is already turning to page thirty-two, and math problem number four. I don’t know why but all of a sudden I’m feeling sick inside, like the part of me that’s three wants to come out of my eyes, only I squeeze them shut tight and bite down on my teeth real hard and try to remember today I am eleven, eleven. Mama is making a cake for me for tonight, and when Papa comes home everybody will sing Happy birthday, happy birthday to you. But when the sick feeling goes away and I open my eyes, the red sweater’s still sitting there like a big red mountain. I move the red sweater to the corner of my desk with my ruler. I move my pencil and books and eraser as far from it as possible. I even move my chair a little to the right.
Rachel thinks that since Mrs. Price is older than her, and is the teacher, then she cannot argue with her. Even though it is not her sweater, she does not feel capable of proving the teacher wrong.
Even though the teacher is wrong, I feel that Rachel did not have to argue to prove her point. She could have been calm and respectful when telling the teacher that the sweater was not hers.
I find this piece interesting as it relates to the SOCIAL category, as well as SOCIETY/COMMUNITY. Today, many see some in certain positions and due to their age they believe that they are always in the right and are omniscient. Though, in reality that is not the case. All too often, humans are judged by their occupation and social status, rather than the character of them, or even when determining who is right in a scenario, the so-called “better” is considered correct. As society, this view needs to change, and compassion needs to be shown for one another, and assistance between people needs to become more prevalent, just as Luella Bates Washington did with the young boy, as she invested in his future.
I agree with Lucas’s take on the SOCIAL thematic category, but I believe this could fall into the AGE or even POLITICAL categories. With age, in the narrator’s mind, comes power. Power is also tied into the POLITICAL category, but I think the reader is mostly speaking in regards to age.
Assumed power given over the teacher. This is positional power of which our protagonist has none.
I often see this in society, with people simply not listening to someone because they are younger. People may not realize the impact of hearing that you should not be listened to because of your age. Everyone should listen to everyone and give them fair chances, despite what you may personally think.
Yes, I agree it could even put some kids in danger when adults will not listen to their problems.
She just assumes that it is the kids sweater. What if it isn’t, the teacher won’t listen to her. I understand the feeling of always being wrong. We are always told that we are wrong and our parents or teachers are right. That’s how it has always been anymore.
In “Thank you Ma’am” you see that Mrs. Luella Bates is treating Roger with respect while still remaining in a position of ‘power’ over him. I like how when we break down this outdated ideal of “Children seen, not heard,” we can really begin to see incite a relationship of cooperation.
I have experienced this before when a strong emotion makes me uncomfortable in a social situation and I don’t always have enough time to fully deal with it before I am forced to turn my attention to something else.
There’s some room here to consider that Mrs. Price will move on (as she does as indicated by story) and not relive this moment as many times as Rachel will (and write about).
Throughout my life there have been many instances when have felt the same way as Rachel. She is in a situation where she is feeling uneasy. The emotions of your mind start to overcome your physical well being. It is a very frightening thing which I wish I have not felt as many times as I have. But in reality as Rachel did you have to remind yourself, this is not the place or time to get upset. “Today I am eleven, eleven.”
In the story Rachel in order to somewhat cope with the emotion she is feeling she starts focusing on a point in the future in this instance her family sitting down in eating cake together in celebration
Not mine, not mine, not mine. In my head I’m thinking how long till lunchtime, how long till I can take the red sweater and throw it over the schoolyard fence, or leave it hanging on a parking meter, or bunch it up into a little ball and toss it in the alley. Except when math period ends Mrs. Price says loud and in front of everybody, “Now, Rachel, that’s enough,” because she sees I’ve shoved the red sweater to the tippy-tip corner of my desk and it’s hanging all over the edge like a waterfall, but I don’t care.
We all have moments where we want to cower down or just go home and let the situation be over with. This is what is occurring here with Rachel. She is in a situation she is extremely uncomfortable in and is counting down the minutes until it is over.
I agree, this is one of those situations for Rachel. She is extremely uncomfortable and just wants to leave right then. Especially on a birthday, this is not how you want to be feeling. I think the teacher could have had more sympathy for Rachel, seeing as she was upset and clearly she did not want to wear the sweater.
Many of times we just give up during the day, if it is about all the stress the school work is giving us or could be out of school. W know we cannot leave so we just have to push through until the end of the day.
“Rachel, ”Mrs. Price says. She says it like she’s getting mad. “You put that sweater on right now and no more nonsense.”
“But it’s not –“
“Now!” Mrs. Price says.
Even as Rachel tries to explain that the red sweater is not hers, her teacher shouts at her. Rachel just turned eleven, and she is dealing with this red sweater on her birthday. This made Rachel even more upset than she already was, causing her to break into tears.
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, and one—are pushing at the back of my eyes when I put one arm through one sleeve of 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.
“Eleven” presents the idea that age is not something new, rather it is a buildup of things. Every experience does not go away when you turn eleven, it just brews inside. “Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, and one—are pushing at the back of my eyes.” This shows that emotions are not linear, each experience helps us lean into an emotional response. What it all boils down to is that she’s still a kid trying to act older to forget how awful her day was. It’s an interesting piece on the though of age.
That’s when everything I’ve been holding in since this morning, since when Mrs. Price put the sweater on my desk, finally lets go, and all of a 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 today and I’m crying like I’m three in front of everybody. I put my head down on the desk and bury my face in my stupid clown-sweater arms. My face all hot and spit coming out of my mouth because I can’t stop the little animal noises from coming out of me until there aren’t any more tears left in my eyes, and it’s just my body shaking like when you have the hiccups, and my whole head hurts like when you drink milk too fast.
In this section it’s not the act of putting on the sweater that makes Rachel cry while this upsets her it is really the tipping point in her emotions that makes her lose control over the previous emotions she’s been suppressing since earlier ad in this act all of these emotions come flooding out at once.
“When everything I have been holding in since. . .” It all comes out here in the middle of the classroom now.
I think that in this section she starts crying in the middle of class because of all the actions leading up to this one moment and her bottling up all her emotions causes her to burst.
This is what I was thinking because no one ever wants to cry in class but sometimes it cannot be helped when all your emotions are just stuck inside and do not let them out.
I think it’s interesting how when the narrator undergoes different emotions or in doing different actions she assigns them with a specific age. Such as how she says she is crying like she’s three in front of everyone.
Earlier in the story, the narrator states that some days even adults “will need to cry like if you’re three, and that’s okay.” In this paragraph she’s crying like she’s three. Though she may not feel it at the time, this point in the narrator’s day is another time when her younger self comes to present itself. These sides of people are morally neutral, and as she said, it is okay to cry as if you were younger.
But the worst part is right before the bell rings for lunch. That stupid Phyllis Lopez, who is even dumber than Sylvia Saldivar, says she remembers the red sweater is hers. I take it off right away and give it to her, only Mrs. Price pretends like everything’s okay.
In this section Rachel says what makes the situation even more distressing is that right before lunch after her breakdown another classmate claims the sweater and the teacher pretends as if nothing happened this not only means that Rachel’s emotional breakdown was unnecessary but that her teacher doesn’t seem to care that she is the cause of it
This added twist to the story can show two different things, even on accident you never know what your actions may do to someone, as well as hatred can drive people to do mean things.
Today I’m eleven. There’s a cake Mama’s making for tonight and when Papa comes home from work we’ll eat it. There’ll be candles and presents and everybody will sing Happy birthday, happy birthday to you, Rachel, only it’s too late.
Rachel, at the beginning of the text describes how when you wake up on your birthday, you might not feel the age you are and it can take time to “grow” into your age. However, at the end of the text, still on Rachel’s birthday, she says she’s eleven, representing how her experience with the red sweater has made her feel both as a child, but also older, as she wishes time to pass to escape the memory
I did not notice this idea until reading your comment. This part makes much more sense now.
I’m eleven today. I’m eleven, ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, and one, but I wish I was one hundred and two. I wish I was anything but eleven. Because I want today to be far away already, far away like a runaway balloon, like a tiny o in the sky, so tiny—tiny you have to close your eyes to see it.
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Sandra Cisneros’s “Eleven,” presents the idea to the readers that age is just a number, writing you aren’t just 11, you eight, you’re five, etc. Sandra Cisneros writes similes to compare age as an onion or rings inside of the tree, but our past ages stay with us. Morrie, for example, in “Tuesday’s With Morrie,” does not envy Mitch for his strength, good health, or age because he was once that age too and will always be in spirit. Mitch also experienced being a child again, needing help walking and using the restroom. Age is just a number.
I believe that age is just a number and to bounce off of what Flora said, in our own lives, history repeats itself. Morrie had to experience being treated like a baby again at the end of his life, which is just a repetition of when he was actually a baby. And when we write, we can be any age we want. We can be five, we can be “Eleven”, we can even be 22 if we want. The depth and the beauty of what we write is not determined by age, but rather who we are inside, and how the spirit if what we are writing moves us.
Another psychological theme seems to be coming out here. We don’t magically becoming wiser and bigger and stronger when that special date rolls around. We’re still scared and young, growing and new to the world. The child inside us will always be there, if only we listen to the knocking. (Shane Koyczan reference)
I agree with what you’re saying here with this theme. That we are always growing and have our younger selves inside of us.
An overarching theme of the two pieces could possibly be seen through the lens of both psychology and domesticity. They both center around growing up, going through growing pains and trials.
Sandra Cisnero, through her work “Eleven” presents growing up as a continuing process that includes growing pains and self-felt setbacks.
I think a possible theme to be found in this story is that of wishing you knew things back when they happened. In the writing she says she wished she was older so she would know what to say, and I think that is something all of us have experienced. That moment of I should have said this or I should have done that. I think that is what this piece is playing with as Rachel talks about wishing she was one hundred and two.
A possible theme for this short story could be that age doesn’t really matter. Everyone ages and there will still be people that tell you want you need to do.
I think the overarching theme for this would be that despite one’s age, they still have the ability to feel like a child. Age is just a number is the claim Sandra presents. As one continues to age, they also continue to carry their past with them such as the moments they experienced as a child. Those previous experiences are still apart of your life though some may be forgotten as one ages, they still were an experience in that person’s life.
In Eleven by Sandra Cisneros she talks about a little girl that is turning 11 and how it does not feel any different than any other day.
I believe that the theme for this article would be growing up, but never really feeling grown up. Sandra describes growing old as like “an onion or like rings inside a tree trunk” because even though one is getting older, they still have all the other years inside of them.
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