3.05: Author's Craft: "Mother Tonge"
Refer to Explorations in Literature for a complete version of this narrative. Which text from "About Russell" best supports the inference that the narrator eventually learns to accept her brother for who he is?
"A grown man, Russell simply will not do what he doesn't want to."
Refer to Explorations in Literature for a complete version of this narrative. Read this excerpt from "About Russell" by Rita Williams-Garcia. He seemed to have an entire conversation for her and she was interested. Gasp! They were holding hands! Rosalind and I were ecstatic. How does the word gasp affect the tone of this excerpt?
It conveys a tone of surprise.
Refer to Explorations in Literature for a complete version of this narrative. Read this excerpt from "Mother Tongue" by Amy Tan. Then she began to talk more loudly. "What he want, I come to New York tell him front of his boss, you cheating me?" And I was trying to calm her down, make her be quiet, while telling the stockbroker, "I can't tolerate any more excuses. If I don't receive the check immediately, I am going to have to speak to your manager when I'm in New York next week." And sure enough, the following week there we were in front of this astonished stockbroker, and I was sitting there red-faced and quiet, and my mother, the real Mrs. Tan, was shouting at his boss in her impeccable broken English. How does this paragraph develop the idea that a person's ability to use language has nothing to do with his or her intelligence?
It shows an instance in which someone with little mastery of a language nonetheless wisely and correctly recognizes that she is being taken advantage of.
Refer to Explorations in Literature for a complete version of this narrative. Read this excerpt from "Mother Tongue" by Amy Tan. When I was fifteen, she used to have me call people on the phone to pretend I was she. In this guise, I was forced to ask for information or even to complain and yell at people who had been rude to her. How does this detail develop the central idea?
It supports the idea that people judged the author's mother based on her language.
Refer to Explorations in Literature for a complete version of this narrative. Which statement best expresses the central idea of "Mother Tongue" by Amy Tan?
People make inaccurate judgements about others based on the way they express themselves through language.
Refer to Explorations in Literature for a complete version of this narrative. Read this excerpt from "Lake Titicaca" by Miguel Angel Asturias. Not let our eyes be stolen by the altiplano that emerges and submerges in every direction. What does the phrase "let our eyes be stolen" mean?
be distracted