Eleven by Sandra Cisneros

Re-read the dialogue between Rachel and her teacher, Mrs. Price.

“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.

What can the reader infer about Rachel's teacher, Mrs. Price, based on her dialogue with Rachel?

• The reader can infer that Mrs. Price is aware of Rachel's embarrassment.

• The reader can infer that Mrs. Price lacks patience and understanding for the situation and how Rachel feels in that moment.

• The reader can infer that Mrs. Price is intentionally trying to embarrass Rachel in front of her classmates.

• The reader can infer that Mrs. Price wants to find the owner of the ugly, red sweater.

Re-read the following simile from Eleven.

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.

What is the intended effect of this simile?

• The narrator is trying to express that no matter how old a person is, they are shaped by everything that has happened to them in the past.

• The narrator is trying to express that growing up does not seem real.

• The narrator is trying to express that growing up is a lie.

• The narrator is trying to express that she does not want to be eleven-years-old.

Re-read the following excerpt from Eleven.

“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.

“Of course it’s yours,” Mrs. Price says. “I remember you wearing it once.” 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.

What is the effect of the internal repetition of the phrase "not mine, not mine, not mine"?

• It emphasizes what Rachel is unable to say out loud.

• It emphasizes that she is trying to convince herself that the sweater is not hers.

• It emphasizes that she is being stubborn about the sweater.

• It emphasizes that she wants to be the owner of the sweater.

Re-read the following excerpt from Eleven by Sandra Cisneros.

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.

What is the effect of the figurative language and sensory details demonstrate Rachel's emotions?

• The details demonstrate that her classmates are making fun of her in the sweater.

• The details demonstrate that she is proud to wear the sweater.

• The details demonstrate the pain and embarrassment Rachel feels over the sweater.

• The details demonstrate that she wishes it was not her birthday.

What event resolves the central conflict of Mrs. Price accusing Rachel of owning the ugly, red sweater?

• Mrs. Price forces Rachel to put on the ugly, red sweater.

• Phyllis Lopez admits that the sweater is hers.

• Rachel begins to cry in front of her classmates.

• Rachel has the courage to say the sweater is not hers.