"Eleven" Sandra Cisneros-ELA 6

The author's choice of first-person narrator helps the reader --

• understand how the students in the class felt about the narrator

• realize how the teacher felt about the narrator

• learn why the teacher thought the sweater was Rachel's

• understand how the teacher's and student's actions affected the narrator

Read the sentence below.

Only today I wish I didn't have only eleven years rattling inside me like pennies in a tin Band-Aid box.

From this sentence, it is reasonable to infer that the narrator --

• is upset about growing older today

• wishes she was older

• is scared to turn eleven years old

• feels like growing older is an injury that needs to be taken care of

Paragraphs 1-3 contribute to the story by showing that Rachel --

• is excited to turn eleven years old

• does not understand why people have birthdays

• does not think of birthdays the way most people do

• is afraid of her eleventh birthday

Which of the following quotes supports the idea that Rachel is timid?

• Like some days you might say something stupid, and that's the part of you that's still ten. (Paragraph 2)

• Mrs. Price takes the sweater and puts it right on my desk, but when I open my mouth nothing comes out. (Paragraph 9)

• Because she's older and the teacher, she's right and I'm not. (Paragraph 11)

• But when the sick feeling goes away and I open my eyes, the red sweater's still sitting there like a big red mountain. (Paragraph 13)

Read the sentence below.

I don't know why but all of 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.

It can be inferred form the sentences that:

• Rachel will throw up because she feels ill, and she should see a doctor

• Math is not Rachel's best subject, which makes her feel sick inside

• Rachel has moments when she does not feel her true age

• Rachel will never feel grown up, and this makes her feel sick

The narrator's main conflict in this story is that:

• Rachel wants to get rid of the red sweater because it is raggedy and smells like cottage cheese.

• Rachel is upset that turning eleven has not made her feel mature the way she expected it would.

• Rachel's teacher, Mrs. Price, wants to find the owner of the sweater and does not care if it embarrasses her students.

• Rachel is frustrated that Sylvia Salvidar ruined her birthday, and she will never be able to forgive her.

What does paragraph 21 tell the reader?

• Rachel knows she cannot have a joyous birthday.

• Rachel is excited to spend the evening with her family.

• Rachel's family always celebrates her birthday the same way.

• Rachel's mother is responsible for cooking for her family.

Which example of figurative language communicate(s) Rachel's disappointment about turning eleven?

• 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.

• There'll be candles and presents, and everybody will sing Happy birthday, happy birthday to you, Rachel, only it's too late.

• 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.

In paragraph 3, the author includes similes to show that --

• when you get older, your skin thicker

• we don't become a completely different person, we simply add on to who we've been before

• aging causes people to become larger than who they were before

• not only does age change our appearance, but it changes who we are on the inside.

Which of the following is the best summary of the selection?

• Rachel has a mean teacher named Mrs. Price who makes her wear clothing that doesn’t belong to her. Rachel doesn’t know how to stand up to her, and she never admits to Rachel that she made a mistake.

• One day at school, Rachel is forced to wear an ugly, scratchy sweater that doesn’t belong to her. Eventually, another girl admits it is hers but the teacher doesn’t care at all.

• On Rachel’s birthday, Sylvia tells Mrs. Price that a sweater belongs to Rachel when it really doesn’t. It makes Rachel really upset, and she wishes she could be a little girl again so she could cry out all of her anger.

• On her eleventh birthday, Rachel has a misunderstanding with Mrs. Price regarding a red sweater which ruins her day and makes her wish that she was old enough to stand up to Mrs. Price and her classmate, Sylvia, to explain her side of the story. By the time the sweater is returned to its owner and Rachel gets home, she thinks her birthday is already ruined.