Sandra Cisneros uses repetition to describe how much Rachel hates the red sweater, and to show that she is childish. When a girl in the class says the ugly sweater belongs to Rachel, Rachel says to herself, “not mine, not mine, not mine” (Cisneros 12). The author repeats the words “not mine” to emphasize that the sweater is not Rachel’s and that this situation is embarrassing for her. This repetition can also imply that Rachel is immature, because she doesn't know how to respond to the situation and simply repeats a phrase to herself to cope with her embarrassment.

Cisneros uses imagery to show how disgusted Rachel is by the sweater sitting on her desk. When Rachel sees the big red sweater sitting next to her “like a big red mountain,”, she decides to “move the red sweater to the corner of her desk with her ruler” and she moves herself along with her pencils and books as far as she can from the big red sweater which is on the corner of her desk (Cisneros 13). Cisneros uses descriptive language to explain negatively in detail how much Rachel wanted to get away from that sweater. This puts the reader in a situation in which the reader feels and can picture exactly what Rachel is feeling and doing.