The growth of characters is very crucial as it is the process of creating a fully rounded, lifelike character within any fictional writing. It has the purpose of making readers invested in their life and interested in seeing their growth. In Sandra Cisneros's short story Eleven, the growth of characters is very present. Character development is seen in Eleven from the moment Rachel wakes up as an eleven-year-old. Rachel explains that people aren't made as a result of their experiences, since that’s who they are. Within these short stories character development, growing of age, and imperfection play a leading role in portraying the theme.
The development of age within Eleven is an extremely important theme expressing character development. You would expect an eleven-year-old to wake up very ecstatic and eager to open their presents, but the narrator Rachel isn’t a typical eleven-year-old. Rachel wakes up and describes to the reader, “What they don't understand about birthdays and what they never tell you is 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. And when you wake up on your eleventh birthday you expect to feel eleven, but you don't. You open your eyes and everything's just like yesterday” (Cisneros 1). Rachel explains that at eleven, you're still ten because that experience of being ten never goes away because it’s in life as a part of layers. An example of metaphor is shown when she compares growing old to an onion since life is full of different layers. As Rachel is growing up she is starting to feel and worry about things her younger self wouldn’t. When her teacher places the red sweater on her desk, she feels a sense of embarrassment. Rachel doesn’t see value in herself because of her young age, “today I wish I was one hundred and two instead of eleven because if I was one hundred and two I'd have known what to say when Mrs. Price put the red sweater on my desk” (Cisneros 5). Rachel believes being older means you can convince of your rightness, and being young is looked over. What Rachel's character doesn’t understand is that her values are always right no matter her age.
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The reader sees a lot of Rachel’s growth throughout the short story in how to respond to the red sweater. Rachel is a very passive and shy girl, but her intelligence and thoughtfulness also make her very unique. Rachel’s thoughts about her situation and the world around her are very bright, but being passive stops her from speaking up which allows others to walk all over her. Rachel can’t express how she feels about certain situations as seen when Mrs. Price talked to her about the red sweater, “because if I was one hundred and two I'd have known what to say when Mrs. Price put the red sweater on my desk. I would've known how to tell her it wasn't mine instead of just sitting there with that look on my face and nothing coming out of my mouth” (Cisneros 5).
A character's growth throughout the story is very crucial in developing a fully rounded theme. Within these short stories character development, growing of age, and imperfection play a leading role in portraying the theme. As seen in Eleven the growth of these girls is very present in developing the themes. Rachel in Eleven is a very shy young girl, with a bright mind. Being passive stops Rachel from vocalizing her thoughts, and we see this when she couldn’t speak up about the red sweater. While in Barbie-Q the two young girls recognize they don’t need the latest and greatest items to be happy.
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