"Eleven," Vocabulary from the short story

Have you ever wished you were older than you are? Sandra Cisneros' short story describes the eleventh birthday of a girl who just wants to be 102 years old, so she can tell Mrs. Price that the disgusting red sweater is not hers.
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. underneath
    under or below an object or a surface
    You feel like you're still ten. And you are--underneath the year that makes you eleven.
    "Underneath" is not used literally here, since a year is not an actual object or surface that people can be under or below. This figurative use of the preposition compares the narrator's growth to onions and trees, both of which have layers.
  2. rattle
    make a series of short, loud sounds
    Only today I wish I didn't have only eleven years rattling inside me like pennies in a tin Band-Aid box.
    "Rattle" is used figuratively here as part of a simile that compares eleven years to pennies inside a tin box. This image emphasizes the narrator's feelings of being small, worthless, and easily hurt.
  3. stretch
    become longer by being pulled
    It's an ugly sweater with red plastic buttons and a collar and sleeves all stretched out like you could use it for a jump rope.
  4. ragged
    being or dressed in clothes that are worn or torn
    "I think it belongs to Rachel." An ugly sweater like that, all raggedy and old, but Mrs. Price believes her.
  5. problem
    a question raised for consideration or solution
    Not mine, not mine, not mine, but Mrs. Price is already turning to page thirty-two, and math problem number four.
    A problem is also "a source of difficulty" (which could describe the ugly sweater that no one wants) and "a state of difficulty that needs to be resolved" (which could describe the conflict between Mrs. Price and Rachel over the sweater). This example sentence also suggests that Mrs. Price both creates problems for her students and teaches problems to her students.
  6. squeeze
    squeeze or push together
    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.
  7. corner
    a place off to the side of an area
    I move the red sweater to the corner of my desk with my ruler.
    As a verb, "corner" means "force someone into a position from which he cannot escape." That is how Rachel feels at the moment, and cornering the sweater is one of the few things she can do to try to make the situation less sickening to her.
  8. possible
    capable of happening or existing
    I move my pencil and books and eraser as far from it as possible.
  9. meter
    an instrument for measuring a quantity
    In my head I'm thinking how long till lunchtime, how long till I can take the red sweater and throw it over the schoolyard fence, or leave it hanging on a parking meter
  10. alley
    a narrow street with walls on both sides
    or bunch it up into a little ball and toss it in the alley.
  11. period
    an amount of time
    Except when math period ends Mrs. Price says loud and in front of everybody, "Now, Rachel, that's enough,"
  12. nonsense
    a message that seems to convey no meaning
    "You put that sweater on right now and no more nonsense."
    "Nonsense" also means "extravagant foolishness" or "pretentious or rude behavior"--these definitions would be better fits for the example sentence, especially since Rachel's action with the sweater clearly conveys a message that she doesn't want it. But Mrs. Price seems to be using the word "nonsense" to mean any action that goes against her words.
  13. invisible
    impossible or nearly impossible to see
    I wish I was invisible but I'm not.
  14. pretend
    behave unnaturally or affectedly
    I take it off right away and give it to her, only Mrs. Price pretends like everything's okay.
  15. tiny
    very small
    I wish I was anything but eleven, because I want today to be far away already, far away like a runaway balloon, like a tiny o in the sky, so tiny-tiny you have to close your eyes to see it.
Created on Tue Jul 22 20:05:29 EDT 2014 (updated Wed Jul 30 14:39:33 EDT 2014)

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