This stage of the story is all about giving readers the background information they need to understand what they're about to read. In some novels, that information can take up chapters and chapters of story telling (we're looking at you, Charles Dickens), and sometimes that information comes in the form of some quick catch-up text, such as the iconic Star Wars text crawl. In other cases, a character we like to call 'the exposition guru' conveniently hands us all the background information we need to know.
"Eleven" favors that last kind of exposition, as Rachel goes all guru on us at the story's outset by directly addressing the reader. Rachel tells us it is her birthday, lets us know what it means to be eleven, and foreshadows the upcoming conflict she'll have with Mrs. Price over a mysterious and dreadful sounding red sweater.
