Question

here is paragraph 16

(Let me tell you what the visit to Lawnrest was all about. My grandmother is seventy-three years old. She is a resident --which is supposed to be a better word than patient --at the Lawnrest Nursing Home. She used to make the greatest turkey dressing in the world and was a nut about baseball and could even quote batting averages, for crying out loud. She always rooted for the losers. She was in love with the Mets until they started to win. Now she has arteriosclerosis, which the dictionary says is "a chronic disease characterized by abnormal thickening and hardening of the arterial walls." Which really means that she can't live at home anymore or even with us, and her memory has betrayed her as well as her body. She used to wander off and sometimes didn't recognize people. My mother visits her all the time, driving the thirty miles to Lawnrest almost every day. Because Annie was at home for semester break from college, we had decided to make a special Saturday visit. Now Annie was in bed, groaning theatrically --she's a drama major --but I told my mother I'd go anyway. I hadn't seen my grandmother since she'd been admitted to Lawnrest. Besides, the place is located on the Southwest Turnpike, which meant I could barrel along in my father's new Le Mans. My ambition was to see the speedometer hit seventy-five. Ordinarily, I used the old station wagon, which can barely stagger up to fifty.)


Check-In (page 9): Read paragraph 16 of “The Moustache.” Use what you have learned about connotative and figurative meanings to answer the questions.
Question Answer
1. To whom does Mike compare his grandmother?
2. How does this comparison relate to Mike’s culture?
3. What similes are used to compare Mike’s grandmother and the actress?
4. How do the figurative meanings of the similes help readers to better understand Mike’s grandmother?
5. What is the connotative meaning of the word girlish? How does this meaning reflect how Mike sees and thinks about his grandmother at that moment?

Additional Notes (OPTIONAL)




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Unit 5 Lesson 8: Rhyme and Alliteration
Video Link: Alliteration, Assonance, and Onomatopoeia | Style | Grammar
Key words: define the following in your own words.
Words Definition
alliteration
repetition
rhyme
rhythm

Check-In (page 3): Use what you have learned about rhyme and repetition to answer these questions. Highlight or underline the correct answer.
1. Which line of poetry has the clearest example of alliteration?
a. With sorrow, he cried; with sorrow, he fought.
b. His whispers flew like the wings of wrens.
c. When the child grew sad, she also became mad.
d. They toiled all night, and into the day.

2. In which lines of poetry does the author use rhyme to connect words and emphasize their meanings?
a. Fiona fretted and paced, and feared for the future.
b. Nathan was a man of his word, and a man who came through.
c. Tanya climbed each rung of the corporate ladder, while those around her grew anxious and madder.
d. Lin watched and he listened until his senses were sharp, like dogs at the airport trained for special security.

3. Which lines of poetry use repetition to emphasize an emotion that the speaker feels about love?
a. I wrote him my letter; I wrote my heart through my pen.
b. We talked every night in calls lasting hours and in texts that rained in like warm April showers.
c. I’ll offer my love like a feather pure white, And hope that my offer is met with delight.
d. My heart broke in anguish, And in anguish my love shattered.

Practice (page 7): Read paragraph 18 of “The Moustache,” a short story by Robert Cormier. Use what you have learned about alliteration and the repetition of sounds to answer the following prompts using the provided spaces below.
Prompt Answer
a. Identify all the examples of alliteration in the paragraph.

b. How does this alliteration reinforce the narrator’s feelings about the woman?

c. What do you notice about the rhythm of the sentences?

d. How do the sound devices affect you as a reader?


Rewrite the paragraph, using different words to express an experience of holding someone’s hands. Be sure to include alliteration, repetition, and rhyme where possible. Write your revision in the provided space below.

Answer 1

Do you want complete answers for all five Check‑In questions now? I can do that. Below are concise answers based only on the paragraph you pasted (paragraph 16). I note where the paragraph does not actually contain the element the question asks about.

1) To whom does Mike compare his grandmother?
- He doesn’t directly compare her to another person in this paragraph. He describes her as a “resident” (not a “patient”), and he portrays her as a devoted, old‑time baseball fan (a Mets fan who “always rooted for the losers”). So the closest thing to a comparison is that she’s characterized as a loyal, somewhat quirky baseball fan and an aging, forgetful person who can’t live at home.

2) How does this comparison relate to Mike’s culture?
- The baseball references (quoting batting averages, rooting for the losers, loving the Mets) position her within a specific American, working‑class/blue‑collar cultural world where baseball is a central pastime and identity marker. It also signals generational culture: older people who follow baseball closely and value loyalty and tradition.

3) What similes are used to compare Mike’s grandmother and the actress?
- This paragraph does not contain any similes comparing the grandmother to an actress. (If you meant a different paragraph that does make that comparison, please paste it and I’ll analyze the similes there.)

4) How do the figurative meanings of the similes help readers to better understand Mike’s grandmother?
- Because this paragraph doesn’t include those similes, we can’t analyze them here. From the figurative language that is present (e.g., calling her “a nut about baseball,” saying her memory has “betrayed her”), readers infer personality traits: she’s passionate, quirky, loyal, and now vulnerable because of illness and memory loss. Those figurative choices make her feel human and sympathetic.

5) What is the connotative meaning of the word girlish? How does this meaning reflect how Mike sees and thinks about his grandmother at that moment?
- Connotatively, “girlish” suggests youthful, playful, innocent, or childlike qualities (not merely female). If Mike uses or thinks of her as “girlish,” he would be seeing moments of youthfulness or vulnerability in her—small, tender behaviors that contrast with her age and illness. (Paragraph 16 doesn’t actually use the word “girlish,” so if that term appears elsewhere in the story, paste that paragraph and I’ll give a targeted reading.)

Do you want me to:
- revise these answers to match a different paragraph that contains the similes and the word “girlish,” or
- continue and answer the rhyme/alliteration multiple‑choice and the paragraph‑18 practice you included?