Characters, Conflict, and Idioms in "Daughter of Invention" by Julia Alvarez

Which excerpt from "Daughter of Invention" contains language that best represents the preservation of Dominican values?

"What is wrong? I will tell you what is wrong. It show no gratitude. It is boastful. I celebrate myself? The best student learns to destroy the teacher?"

Read the excerpt from "Daughter of Invention". "Maybe not. Maybe, just maybe, there's something they've missed that's important. With patience and calm, even a burro can climb a palm." This last was one of her many Dominican sayings she had imported into her scrambled English. What is the meaning of the idiom underlined in the excerpt?

Anything can be accomplished.

Read the excerpt from "Daughter of Invention". "What ees wrrrong with her eh-speech?" Carlos wagged his head at her. His anger was always more frightening in his broken English. As if he had mutilated the language in his fury—and now there was nothing to stand between them and his raw, dumb anger. "What is wrong? I will tell you what is wrong. It show no gratitude. It is boastful. I celebrate myself? The best student learns to destroy the teacher?" He mocked Yoyo's plagiarized words. "That is insubordinate. It is improper. It is disrespecting of her teachers—" In his anger he had forgotten his fear of lurking spies: each wrong he voiced was a decibel higher than the last outrage. Finally, he shouted at Yoyo, "As your father, I forbid you to make that eh-speech!" What does Carlos' language reveal about his character?

He has trouble speaking clearly in English.

Which excerpt from "Daughter of Invention" contains language that best reveals that Carlos is still tied to his Dominican origin?

He sat bolt upright, reaching for his glasses which in his haste, he knocked across the room. "iQue pasa? iQue pasa?"

Read the excerpt from "Daughter of Invention". "Ay, Cuquita." That was her communal pet name for whoever was in her favor. "Cuquita, when I make a million, buy you your very own typewriter." (Yoyo had been nagging her mother for one just like the one her father had bought to do his order forms at home.) "Gravy on the turkey" was what she called it when someone was buttering her up. She buttered and poured. "I'll hire you your very own typist." Based on this excerpt, what can be concluded about Laura?

She does not know the grammar rules in English.

Read the excerpt from "Daughter of Invention". "iYa, ya!" She waved them out of her room at last. "There is no use trying to drink spilt milk, that's for sure." What does Laura mean to express to her daughters?

She does not want to dwell on something that cannot be changed.

Read the excerpt from "Daughter of Invention". "iYa, ya!" She waved them out of her room at last. "There is no use trying to drink spilt milk, that's for sure." What does Laura's attempt at trying to use an English idiom reveal about her character?

She is eager to try English phrases and expressions.

Read the excerpt from "Daughter of Invention". "Maybe not. Maybe, just maybe, there's something they've missed that's important. With patience and calm, even a burro can climb a palm." This last was one of her many Dominican sayings she had imported into her scrambled English. Which English idiom has the same meaning as the one underlined in this excerpt?

Slow and steady wins the race.

Read the excerpt from "Daughter of Invention". "Thanks, thanks a lot, Mom!" Yoyo stormed out of that room and into her own. Her daughters never called her Mom except when they wanted her to feel how much she had failed them in this country. She was a good enough Mami, fussing and scolding and giving advice, but a terrible girlfriend parent, a real failure of a Mom. Based on this excerpt, what can be concluded about the daughters?

They sometimes wish their mother would be more like the American moms.

Which of Laura's misquoted idioms from "Daughter of Invention" is intended to mean that it makes no difference to her?

This answer is not "green behind the ears"

Read the excerpt from "Daughter of Invention". Meanwhile, Yoyo was on her knees, weeping wildly, collecting all the little pieces of her speech, hoping that she could put it back together before the assembly tomorrow morning. But not even a sibyl could have made sense of those tiny scraps of paper. All hope was lost. "He broke it, he broke it," Yoyo moaned as she picked up a handful of pieces. What conflict does Yoyo face in this excerpt?

Yoyo is saddened by her father's disapproval of the message in her speech for the assembly.

idiom

a phrase that cannot be taken literally and must be understood as a whole

conflict

a struggle between opposing forces or characters

Read the excerpt from "Daughter of Invention". But Laura's inventing days were over just as Yoyo's were starting up with her school-wide success. Rather than the rolling suitcase everyone else in the family remembers, Yoyo thinks of the speech her mother wrote as her last invention. It was as if, after that, her mother had passed on to Yoyo her pencil and pad and said, "Okay, Cuquita, here's the buck. You give it a shot." Which context clue provides the best hint for the meaning of the underlined idiom in this excerpt?

after that, her mother had passed on to Yoyo her pencil and pad

Read the excerpt from "Daughter of Invention". But now, Carlos was truly furious. It was bad enough that his daughter was rebelling, but here was his own wife joining forces with her. Soon he would be surrounded by a houseful of independent American women. He too leapt from the bed, throwing off his covers. The Spanish newspapers flew across the room. He snatched the speech out of Yoyo's hands, held it before the girl's wide eyes, a vengeful, mad look in his own, and then once, twice, three, four, countless times, he tore the speech into shreds. In this excerpt, Carlos is mostly in conflict with

others

To understand a character, what variations in language should the reader look for? Check all that apply.

pronunciation vocabulary syntax grammar

characterization

the way an author presents a fictional character to the reader

interact

to be involved with and have an effect on something or someone else

interpret

to tell the meaning of

Read the excerpt from "Daughter of Invention". "Sticks and stones don't break bones," she chanted. Yoyo could tell, though, by the look on her face, it was as if one of those stones the kids had aimed at her daughters had hit her. But she always pretended they were at fault. "What did you do to provoke them? It takes two to tangle, you know." In this excerpt, the uniqueness of Laura's speech is revealed by her

word usage