This document is a paper analyzing Sandra Cisneros's short story "Eleven" and describing a painting the author created based on the story. The author discusses how reading the story multiple times helped them understand its symbolism. They summarize key elements of the story and explain how their painting depicts objects that represent Rachel's age and feelings of embarrassment, as described in the text. The painting shows an eye's perspective of the classroom scene and includes numbers, a cake, balloons, and an onion to symbolize Rachel's age and the story's themes. The author reflects on creating the painting and how analyzing the story inspired them to read more of Cisneros's work.

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Danielle Cunningham
Dr. Coniglio
CORE 161: Intro to Literature
7 May 2015
“…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.” “Eleven” by Sandra Cisneros has become one of my
favorite short stories because of that particular line. The way Cisneros explains birthdays is
different from how I ever thought about it. I like this story because it is about birthdays and how
relatable it is to me. I have always been obsessed with my birthday. I try for it to be perfect every
year. I plan out exactly what I want to do. There has been years where it didn't go my way and it
turned out to be a disaster like Rachel’s eleventh birthday was. Cisneros wrote this story about
herself when she was younger. Everyone went through embarrassment, especially in elementary
school. We didn't know who we were going to be or what was even going to happen tomorrow.
The mind of a child is so fragile and harmless. Using Art and the story “Eleven,” I have created a
painting defining Cisneros’s ; creativity, symbolism, and imagination.
When thinking of a plan for this project, I knew I wanted it to be different and unique. It
didn't come to me right away. I was looking through pictures on Pinterest and came up with an
idea. I saw some photos of human eyes drawn by an artist so well they looked real. I didn't want
to do something exactly like that, but I decided I was going to draw the perspective of “Eleven”
through the way Rachel say it. The part of the story that I really wanted to capture was when
Mrs. Price asks the class about the sweater. In the story, Cisneros describes everything in a lot of
detail. The reader can virtually picture being in the room. Inside the aqueous humor is where I

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drew Rachel looking at Mrs. Price holding the red sweater. I also put the classroom around her.
The other parts of the painting are things she compares with the years of her life.
There is a lot of symbolism in “Eleven.” I wanted the objects to be in the painting as
physical things and not just how Rachel compares them with her age so the reader can see them
instead of picturing it. I wanted my painting to be like how I pictured it while reading. Above the
eye is going to be the onion, balloons, tin of Band-Aids, a penny and cake. Underneath the eye, I
want to define that Rachel is upset and crying, but I don't want the painting to look sad all
together. I want this painting it to be like a picture to go with the story. I could of used every part
of symbolism she talks about, but I thought objects I chose were the most important. I drew a
penny next to the tin band-aid box because she says, “Eleven years rattling inside me like
pennies in a tin Band-Aid box.” The year that is on the penny is the year “Eleven” was
published. Painting the penny I was looking at the years and it means when the penny was made.
I put the year the short story was created because it has meaning with the rest of the painting.
The cake is in honor of it being the day of her birthday and the balloons are to go with when she
says, “…far away like a runaway balloon…” I wanted to do the onion because she says, “the
way you grow old is like an onion.” I interpreted that as the layers of an onion on the inside and
outside. To get to the actual onion it has to be pealed in layers. The layers on the outside or old
and dried out. An onion also has layers when it is cut open. Using an onion as an example to age
could mean multiple things. It could mean the way Rachel wants to be one hundred and two but
she feels like she's in the middle of the onion. She is trapped inside and if she was the oldest part
of the onion that is pealed off first she would know what to say to her teacher instead of no
words coming out of her mouth. Something I thought was interesting is the line where she says,
“Because of the years inside me…are pushing at the back of my eyes…” That is why I put

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numbers pushing at her eyes. I didn't want it to be ordinary numbers. I found cartoon numbers
that have legs and arms on a site called dreamstime. The tears coming out of Rachel’s eye
represents her being embarrassed because she had to wear the sweater and Mrs. Price was talking
to her in front of everyone. Though out the story, I felt bad for Rachel. I know what it is like to
have a bad birthday or an embarrassing day. Like Rachel, I tend to want things to be over when
they don't go right.
While coming up with ideas for this painting. I really had to brainstorm. I usually only
draw things based off a picture that someone already took. For this painting there are some
things I had to find references for. To draw the eye, I looked at the first picture of eyes I found
and just followed that outline. I never really saw cartoon numbers so I had to use a reference for
that. I had the whole painting planned out in my head. It was just difficult to copy it to paper. For
the classroom I thought back to when I was in elementary school. I drew what I remembered my
classrooms to be. While reading this story I imagined all of the situations like if I was in
Rachel’s shoes. I didn't purposely do it. After reading the story for the first time it made me think
of elementary school and all the memories I had. I had to reflect on somethings, it wasn't all
happy memories for me.
Painting this picture based on “Eleven” I was really inspired. Having to read the story
over and over I now have a very good understanding of it all. Doing this kind of project has
made me want to read other books by Sandra Cisneros. I also want to try to paint a picture based
off a story or book again. While browsing through Cisneros’s website and reading her biography
Cisneros is really an amazing women. I also found out she was an art teacher at one time.
Cisneros uses a lot of interesting things in “Eleven.” The use of the creativity, symbolism, and
imagination is just mind blowing. The things she says through out the story to compare the years

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of Rachel’s life is just something so out of the ordinary. In the reviews of this story there was of
people amazed by the way she explained birthdays because of the uniqueness. There is a song
that I know that can be compared to “Eleven.” It is called “100 years” by “ Five for Fighting.”
The song is about how life goes by so fast. They explain like one age after another. He basically
says don't wish live away because it is going to end in a blink of an eye. He also says,“you only
have 100 years to live.” I though it was ironic because Rachel wants to be one hundred and two.
It takes talent to think of these kind of things. “Eleven” really stuck to me and I won’t forget
about it. It was a different way to think about age and birthdays. Unlike Rachel I don't want to be
one hundred-two just yet. I am enjoying life and waiting for what is to come in the future.

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Bibliography
Cisneros, Sandra. Sandra Cisneros: About Sandra Cisneros. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 May 2015.
On Cisneros’s website I was reading her biography and looking at her other work. I also
learned about Cisneros and her accomplishments. This is her personal website for fans, it
shows events and things about her past and future books.
Funny Cartoon Numbers. Digital image. Dreamstime. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 May 2015
I used this site to find the numbers I put in my painting. I wanted to use a reference
because I didn’t exactly know what cartoon numbers looked like. I didn't want to draw
ordinary numbers in my painting either.
Vergara, Jose. Look Twice at These Ultra-Realistic Eye Drawings. Digital image. Mashable.
N.p., 24 Mar. 2014. Web. 05 May 2015.
I went on Mashable which is a social media site that publishes articles. It is like Cosmo. I
found this picture originally on Pinterest. The picture that Vergara did really inspired me
to do the eye in the painting. I used the outlines of his pictures to create the outline of my
eye. The illustrator that created the realistic eye is only nineteen years old.