English Poetry

1. How else might Ms. Ribiero have responded when she saw Julia and Brandon giving Denise a hard time about reading a book about a child with two moms?

|Spend about 1 hour on this section. Think carefully about the poems before you write your answer. |

d. Through his use of imagery devices throughout the poem, the author’s main message that

This poem begins by describing some of the harsh feelings associated with failure. She starts by writing, “How many notes

Both incidents are prime examples that show the grandmother?s behavior. We see that the grandmother is selfish and uncaring. She claims that she is a "good" person, yet she criticizes everyone and always wants to get her way. She hides the cat and lies about it to her son; she did not consider how anyone would feel about her bringing the cat. Yet, on the other hand she is very concerned with social opinion. She is dressed nicely, her excuse is that "in case of an accident anyone seeing her dead on the highway would know that she was a lady" (O?Connor 907). This shows that the grandmother was very concerned with people?s opinion. She acted proper, had strong virtues, values; a good woman in her view. But she was a self- centered person who judged others harshly, so that she would look good.

VII. But, above all of these he has given me the opportunity that he didn’t have.

D. The chosen interpretation rests on how the narrator’s character is analyzed through her hidden thoughts.

It is apparent from the first line of the poem that author is in a state of overriding fear travelling through the unknown: likening the road to an “old snake shedding its skin.” A snake is a clear representation of childhood fear and youthful paranoia, due to its intimidating nature. Walcott compares the path to a snake because he fears it just like a snake, to him the path is daunting and potentially deadly at first. The author not only compares the road to a snake but a snake shedding its skin. This paints a grotesque image for readers and illustrates how he views his initial journey with anything but enthusiasm. The author is in the unfamiliar wilderness searching for not only the storyteller’s house but himself. His state of childhood terror is only counterbalanced by his encounter with the storyteller.

3. “He has endeavored, in every way that he could, to destroy her confidence in her own powers, to lessen her self-respect, and to make her willing to lead a dependent and abject life.”

The humor and seemingly-comedic personification used in the poem are very different than the theme, and serve as a distraction from the speaker’s pain.

The third stanza describes the snake as “cool and gleaming as a braided whip” (9-10). Describing the snake as a braided whip demonstrates the intricate woven pattern of the snake’s scales and the poet’s appreciation for nature and its’ beauty. The snake is not a useless piece of rubber, but a beautiful and vibrant part of nature. “He is as beautiful and quiet as a bead brother” (10-11). The snake is quiet, makes no sound, and snuggles into

After riding along a little further, the family is involved in a car accident. The main reason that the family is involved in the car accident is due to the grandmother. The grandmother remembers a mansion that she visits as a young girl. She is eager to go, because she wants the children to see how she grew up. This further states how the grandmother social class, because she lived in a mansion. During the time of the grandmother’s life, only plantation owners and their family lived in mansions. This also stressed the social class of the grandmother, because you can tell from this that the

this point, she had concluded on it as she saw her mother's “disappointed face”(2). In the mirror,

A literal interpretation of the grandmother portrays an elderly southern woman attempting to maintain the proper and genteel values of the South. The grandmother places great importance on her appearance and the opinions of others. This importance is revealed at the beginning of their journey when the story compares the grandmother, a reflection of the past, to the daughter-in-law, a reflection of the present:

The boy, curious to see the addition of mischievous eyes of a serpent to his reflection knelt down again into the muddy surroundings of the puddle and looked into the puddle. He saw a snake, known by the name of Mrs. Daisey to her fellow peers, one of which was the previously swallowed serpent. He thought to himself that maybe it was the snake that he had swallowed, as they both had glistening black and blue scales, but he knew inside of him that there was a snake settling in his belly. He told the boys, in order to prevent them from worrying or telling their mothers, that he did not look different.