Take a story's temperature by studying its tone. Is it hopeful? Cynical? Snarky? Playful?
Forever Young
In "Eleven," a girl named Rachel tells us about an embarrassing moment that happened during math period. Tonally, you'd think this would give the story a The Goldbergs vibe, but that's not actually the case.
The Goldbergs is about an older man looking back on his childhood's more trying moments. "Eleven," on the other hand, is about an eleven-year-old girl telling us about a trying moment that happened on her eleventh birthday. The difference between an adult narrator and a pre-teen narrator gives these two otherwise similar setups very unique tones.
Since she lacks the hindsight of adulthood, Rachel must explain to us what happened and how she felt with the words and concepts at her disposal as an eleven-year-old. Consider this choice example:
Only today I wish I didn't have only eleven years rattling inside me like pennies in a tin Band-Aid box. 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).
These two images perfectly illustrate the eleven-year-old tone. A Band-Aid box is an intricate part of life in a world of scraped knees and monkey bar-induced blisters, so it makes sense Rachel would use it in her simile.
The age of one hundred and two is also a great example of a youthful tone. Adults would never choose to be one hundred and two because they understand concepts such as dementia, physical therapy, and Medicare paperwork. But in an eleven-year old's mind, the older you are, the smarter you are and the more people have to listen to you. And if you're one hundred and two, then nobody—and we mean nobody—younger than one hundred and three could backtalk you.
And that's why we call the tone of this short story forever young. Rachel can't look back and tell us the story from outside her childhood. She's a child and can only tell her story as a child would.