Shakespeare's tragedies have been in print for the last 500-some-odd years despite the fact that a lot of them are total downers. Why? Probably because sadness is a universal part of life and is something everybody can relate to. We know that's not an amazing revelation or anything, but it does explain the appeal of a story like Cisnero's "Eleven." For Rachel, the red sweater incident is a humiliating experience, one that begins to pull Rachel from the comfort of her family and into the much colder world of adulthood. Sure, many readers won't be able to empathize much with Rachel's experience. It's just a sweater, right? No biggie. But even if you can't empathize with the experience itself, Rachel's vivid imagery and description of her sadness will likely prove very similar to something we've all experienced before.
Questions About Sadness
- Rachel says her birthday party won't be able to fix this sad, sad day. Why do you think she feels this way? Why can't the birthday undo the humiliating math period?
- Do you see any other character in the story as being sad? Who and why? If not, then why do you think Rachel alone has to shoulder this story's sadness?
- Cisneros has said that "Eleven" is the story of hers "that children understand the most" Given how sad this story is, why do you think that this is the case?
Chew on This
Rachel seems to accept sadness in other people, such as her mother, but she mistakenly believes her sadness comes at the expensive of her maturity.
The color red tends to represent love and passion, yet in "Eleven," it symbolize sadness and humiliation in the red sweater and balloon.