Eleven Coming of Age Quotes

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Quote #4

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. (5)

Rachel associates getting older with authority and knowing what to do in a situation. Part of the irony of this story is that people who are closer to that age know this isn't always the case. Well, they should know it at any rate.

Quote #5

"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. (11)

Mrs. Price makes the same mistake as Rachel and assumes being right and being older go hand-in-hand. Again, this isn't necessarily the case. Younger people can be just as right as an older person. The only prerequisite for being correct is, well, being correct. Spoiler: Mrs. Price is totally not correct here.

Quote #6

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. (12)

As we'll see with the next three quotes, age and eyes go together in "Eleven." Eyes act like mirrors for Rachel, expressing whatever age she is at that moment. Notice that to prevent others from seeing three-year-old Rachel, she has to squeeze those peepers shut tight.