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.

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?”

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 "

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.

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.

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.

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.

The feeling of turning a year older hits you when you have another birthday. Sometimes we forget that we grow old.

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 author is talking about how they don’t feel eleven yet. I can relate to this because whenever it is my birthday I don’t feel any older as well.

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.

As if it were an official title

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.

Like pennies in a tin Band-Aid box.

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.

Watch Mrs. Price attempting to solve the mystery of a red sweater that has been in the coatroom for a month.

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.

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.

Evidence should always be accurate, relevant, and sufficient. Even in the claim that a red sweater belongs to someone.

Watch how Mrs. Price takes the bait on this. All rules of evidence fall apart and bias takes over.

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 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.

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.

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.

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

Notice the artificial means that Rachel uses to manipulate and move the sweater.

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.

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 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.

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

MESO Setting (classroom)
MICRO Setting (Rachel’s Home).

Psychological Setting (limbo between being the celebratory eleven and the one that turns eleven with regret now).

Rachel wishes she could detach from the pull of this moment that is holding her down, but it is pretty heavy here.