At eleven years old, Rachel has the worst birthday out of all her "ten, and nine, and eight, and seven, and six, and five, and four, and three, and two, and one" years. In Eleven, Sandra Cisneros characterizes Rachel's insecurity and desire to be more grown up.
             Cisneros reveals Rachel's insecurity as it leaves her humiliated over a simple red sweater. When Sylvia Saldivar claims Rachel is the owner of the "ugly sweater...so stretched you could use it for a jump rope," Rachel believes it "maybe" because she's too "skinny" and Sylvia "maybe...doesn't like [her.]" Rachel is speechless, unable to defend herself against the false accusation. She suddenly feels "sick inside," biting on her "teeth real hard," trying to remember she's eleven today and eleven year olds don't cry. Though she's anxious to "throw it over the schoolyard fence," all Rachel can do with the "clown-sweater" is move it to the end of her desk, "far way as possible." Cisneros's description of the sweater and Rachel's reactions to its presence shows that Rachel sees herself as the red sweater: raggedy, ugly, and clown-like.
             Giving a complete analysis and explanation what it is like to be eleven years old, Rachel is anxious to grow up. She explains that "when you're eleven," you're also "ten, and nine, and eight," and so on. When Rachel "says something stupid," she's ten. But she "wish[es]" she didn't have "only eleven years rattling inside" her, but "one hundred and two." That way she "would have known what to say" when "Mrs. Prize set the red sweater" on her desk. If Rachel were wiser, she wouldn't have "just [sat] there...with nothing coming out of [her] mouth." "Today I am eleven, eleven...a...