Eleven by Sandra Cisneros is a powerful piece about the struggle of a young girl named Rachel on her eleventh birthday. The story portrays the struggle to overcome her age and young maturity to be understood. However, he cannot defeat the stereotypes associated with his age. There's a hideous red sweater that no one in class wants to claim; Rachel is then accused of being the owner of the sweater. When he attempts to declare his innocence, the teacher immediately assumes that he is not telling the truth. His age is believed to be a deterrent to his ability to tell the truth. Rachel doesn't feel like she's eleven; rather, she is consumed by confusing emotions toward growth toward maturity and the responsibilities that come with it. Eleven discusses the topic of growth and what one must overcome during this process. The experience of a year of one's life stays with them forever. The years that have passed will always be a part of who you are, because “…when you are eleven, you are also ten, and nine, and eight, and seven, and six, and five, and four, and three, and two, and one” (Cisneros 609). As each year rolls into the next year, Rachel experiences emotions that were previously present in her life. For example, when the teacher completely rejects Rachel's claims of innocence, she suddenly feels “…sick inside, as if the part of me that is three wants to leave my eyes” (Cisneros 610). Rachele, however, must fight this urge to cry by trying to “…remember that today I am eleven, eleven years old” (Cisneros 610). His will to fight this urge is not strong enough to prevent the tears. Rachel shows the difficulty in fighting previous tendencies in life. With growth comes many challenges in combating the accepted actions in your…middle of paper…some different stages involved in growth. One of which was having to shun his way of acting in earlier years of life. She had to fight the desire to act like a child in certain scenarios. Adult perception based on the child's age is another challenge of growing up. She was considered a liar due to the supposed qualities that children possess, facing head on the untruthful stereotype she had been placed in due to her age. All this contributed to another aspect of growth; he wanted to be much older so that his statements would not be considered lies. Growing up brings with it many trials and tribulations, many of which Rachel had to face during her day at school. Works Cited Cisneros, Sandra. "Eleven." Literature and language arts: discovering literature. Ed. Laurie Skiba. 2nd ed. St. Paul, MI: EMC Publishing, LLC, 2007. 19-22.