Character Analysis
Mrs. Price is Rachel's teacher. We don't get much description of her, but if we had to make one up, we'd probably guess she has long hair in a tight bun, a long pleated skirt, and a broad crocodile snout with smoking nostrils. Typical Teacher from the Black Lagoon.
Okay, we don't want to be too unfair with Mrs. Price; maybe she's just having a really, really bad day too, but even so, she's pretty disregarding of Rachel and her feelings.
Teacher's Edition
Mrs. Price's major character flaw is she believes she has all the answers—and not just because she's the one with the teacher's edition. She thinks she's right because she's older. When Rachel protests that the ugly red sweater doesn't belong to her, Mrs. Price says she remembers her wearing it once. Then Rachel clues us in:
Because she's older and the teacher, she's right and I'm not (11).
Of course, Mrs. Price's words become extra ironic when we learn that the sweater really isn't Rachel's, but Phyllis'. In order to be right, Mrs. Price actually misremembers Rachel having worn the sweater. Even when the truth is revealed, she remains unwilling to be wrong and only "pretends like everything's okay" (20).
There's an interesting twist we should point out here. Mrs. Price believes she knew what was right because she is older. For this reason, she is wrong. Still, Rachel thinks Mrs. Price would have listened to her if only she were older. As she puts it,
Today I wish I was one hundred and two instead of eleven because if I was one hundred and two I'd have known what to say when Mrs. Price put the red sweater on my desk (5).
Both characters have this mistaken idea that a higher age means more ability to be right and speak correctly. The conflict that places Mrs. Price (our antagonist) against Rachel (our protagonist) is that they both share the same misconception about truth. And truth is that age has nothing to do with being right.
The Price Is Wrong
We have a theory about Mrs. Price's name: Her last name symbolizes the price Rachel must pay to transition from childhood to adolescence.
One of the staples of growing older is that you have to learn lessons, difficult ones at that. Difficult people are usually the ones to dole out these difficult lessons to us. Mrs. Price is one such difficult person, and Rachel certainly learns her fair share of lessons on her eleventh birthday. Thanks a lot, Mrs. Price.