Question

One day they disappear into their rooms. Doors and lips shut and we become strangers in our own home. I pace the hall, hear whispers, a code I knew but can't remember, mouthed by mouths I taught to speak. Years later the door opens. I see faces I once held, open as sunflowers in my hands. I see familiar skin now stretched on long bodies that move past me glowing almost like pearls. Which of the following inferences is best supported by the second stanza (lines 6-8)?

I pace the hall, hear whispers,
a code I knew but can’t remember,
mouthed by mouths I taught to speak.

A. The speaker of the poem used to work as an English teacher.

B. The speaker’s children are whispering so that their parents can’t hear them.

C. The speaker of the poem is beginning to lose her memory.

D. The speaker’s teenage children are learning another language at school.

Answer 1

B

"Whispers" plus "mouthed by mouths I taught to speak" indicates the speaker’s children are speaking in secret. The "code I knew but can’t remember" suggests a private/secret way of talking the parent no longer understands — supporting that the kids are whispering to keep their parents out of the conversation.