Do you ever feel insecure and want more attention? In “Eleven,” by Sandra Cisneros, and “The Somebody,” by Danny Santiago, the thematic concepts are similar in that they both talk about growth, insecurity, and lack of power. Through rhetoric, a reader can tell that the narrator of both stories is a child who feels insecure growing up and hopes that someone will understand them. As we grow up, we can feel insecure. In "Eleven", although the narrator specifically states that she is eleven years old, through tone and rhetoric the reader can tell that the story is being told by an eleven year old child. The narrator repeatedly repeats "Mommy" and "Daddy", which clearly shows a childish, immature and naive tone. Children like to call their parents “Mom” and “Dad,” but adults would probably call them “Mom” and “Dad.” The narrator also uses words that children like to use, like stupid, stupid, and stupid. The narrator says, “That stupid Phyllis Lopez, who is dumber than Sylvia Saldivar, says she remembers that the red sweater belongs to her! » This is what little children usually say when they complain to their friends or parents about someone they hate. They tend to call everyone they hate stupid or imbecile. This once again shows that the author is giving us a childish tone by speaking as if she were eleven years old. The themes of “Eleven” are insecurity, growing up, and lack of power. When Mrs. Price, the teacher, put the red sweater on Rachel's desk, she wished she was three years old so she could cry. She does not let her teacher know that the sweater does not belong to her; instead, she obeys her teacher as a child would. The speaker says, "Because she's older and the teacher, she's right and I'm not," which shows that he's missing ...... middle of paper ...... and to yell at his father. But in "Eleven", Rachel doesn't yell at her teacher, because she is younger and afraid to yell at someone who has power over her. The themes of insecurity and growing up are addressed similarly in both stories, while the theme of power manifests differently. Even though we get older every day, we will never lose these feelings of insecurity. Author Cisneros says we have a birthday every year, but that doesn't necessarily mean we change completely; At times we might want to act younger, while at other times we might want to act older. Santiago says similar things, although older children sometimes also want their parents' attention, like when they were young. There are always times when you want to be three and times when you want to be a hundred and two, that's how life goes..