Character Clues
Character Analysis
Thoughts and Opinions
"Eleven" is driven by thoughts and opinions. Everything we know about everyone in the story is provided to us courtesy of Rachel's thoughts and opinions.
As the narrator, Rachel's thoughts tell us loads about her. She is a child who endured an embarrassing moment in school on her birthday, but she has moments of strikingly mature thoughts. Consider when Rachel says:
And you don't feel smart eleven, not until you're almost twelve (4).
Rachel does not think of herself as eleven-year-old intelligent, but this thought alone suggests she has a sensibility beyond a typical eleven-year-old's maturity. Her thoughts tell us about her but simultaneously clue us in that Rachel has more to learn about herself.
It's not just Rachel we get to know this way either. Everything we know about every other character is filtered through Rachel's thoughts and opinions. She thinks that Phyllis Lopez is "stupid" (20) and that Sylvia Saldivar doesn't like her, but we don't know that either of these statements are objectively true. It's only Rachel's opinions—opinions clouded by embarrassment, mind you—that provide us any information about her fellow students.
Take away the strong emotions, and maybe Rachel thinks Phyllis is pretty wizard at kickball or that Sylvia Saldivar is a perfectly lovely person to be around. We can't say these things for certain, but it's worth pointing out that, in some instances, Rachel's thoughts might not be clear either.
Occupation
Yes, being a student totally counts as an occupation. Sure, we don't pay grade-schoolers to go to school, but it is work all the same. The other occupation is teacher. You see where this is going, don't you?
Basically, the teachers have the authority, and the students are required to follow said authority. When Mrs. Price says the red sweater is Rachel's, she is instantly correct because "she's older and the teacher" (11). In the classroom, the truth doesn't matter because Mrs. Price's character overrides that truth. She is right by default, and the students aren't.
Actions
Actions basically separate characters into two camps: those ruining Rachel's birthday and those who will make it special. Rachel's mother is making her a cake for her birthday, and after work, her father will sing Happy Birthday with the rest of the family. These actions mean Rachel definitely favors these people. Unsurprising, we know, but there it is.
On the other hand, Mrs. Price forces Rachel to wear a hideous red sweater after Sylvia said it belonged to Rachel, and Phyllis didn't tell the truth until it was too late. Yeah, these three are definitely on Rachel's dislike list.
Notice that Rachel's birthday supporters are all people who live at Rachel's home while those wrecking her special day are from school. These actions also further the story's coming of age theme where Rachel is transitioning from the loving home life of childhood to the colder, less caring society of adulthood.
Speech and Dialogue
The ability to speak grants a character power and agency in "Eleven" while lacking a voice zaps that power away. When Sylvia says the sweater belongs to Rachel, she has the power to convince Mrs. Price that this is true. Mrs. Price forces Rachel to wear the sweater and she enacts this power over the girl by a vocal command.
Rachel, on the other hand, has lost her voice and her agency with it. When she denies the sweater is hers, it comes out like this:
'That's not, I don't, you're not … Not mine,' I finally say in a little voice that was maybe me when I was four (10).
This inability to speak does nothing to convince Mrs. Price and takes away Rachel's power to change anything before it is too late.