THEME OF ELEVEN

I'm ELEVEN, Ten, Nine, Eight, Seven, Six, Five, Four, Three, Two, One
Sandra Cisneros, a Chicana writer, is characterized for her short stories and novels about the life of Mexican immigrant children and their struggle to overcome poverty. In the short story “Eleven” Cisneros shows the reader what Rachel, the main character, feels on her eleventh birthday. Through the manipulation of certain elements of writing; plot, point of view, and language and style; the author projects Rachel’s discovery that adults are not always right. Without these elements the theme would be intangible. This discovery, or the story’s theme, is part of three phases children go through. First, as infants enter elementary school they idolize their parents and tutors, then as they become adolescents in middle school these young adults challenge their mentors knowledge and advice. Finally in high school, they become indifferent to their parents and tutors–to complete a full isolation from their s...