Sofia Sidner, Option 5

In Sandra Cisneros short story titled “Eleven” she tells the story of a little girl named Rachel on her eleventh birthday. She talks about Rachel going to school and the events that occurred at school, especially the situation with the red sweater. Mrs. Price, Rachel’s teacher, forces a red sweater upon Rachel, even though it isn’t hers. Mrs. Price insisted that Rachel put the sweater on and Rachel couldn’t even get the words out to say that the sweater wasn’t hers. She was mortified.

But what is interesting, is that Cisneros points out that although Rachel is eleven, in this situation, she wanted to cry as if she were three years old. Cisneros makes an interesting point saying 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” (Cisneros 1). Cisneros is trying to convey that even though your age increases, there are certain times and certain situations when you want to act younger than you are – and that’s okay.

Personally, being twenty years old, there are times when I want to act five. I want to cry to my mom about something and not have to act like a mature twenty year old adult. There are times when I want to act sixteen and rebel against what people tell me to do. And that’s what Cisnero’s stresses – even though I am twenty, I am also nineteen, eighteen, seventeen, and all the years that come before that.

This is an important piece of literature because it reminds us that it’s okay to not always act our age. We don’t always need to act our age just because society tells us to. Society pushes us to become mature adults, which is fine, but we need to remember that we don’t ALWAYS need to be mature just because we are old – and there are times when we won’t want to act mature. There are times when we will want to act as if we were a different age. I believe that that’s an important message, and Cisneros does an excellent job conveying that message, which is why I would recommend this piece of literature to my friends and peers. This short story serves as a reminder that we don’t need to and sometimes don’t want to always act our age.