Read the following poem by Grace Paley and answer the question that follows. Your response should be 2–3 sentences in length.
"Family"
by Grace Paley
My father was brilliant embarrassed funny handsome
my mother was plain serious principled kind
my grandmother was intelligent lonesome for her
other life her dead children silent
my aunt was beautiful bitter angry loving
I fell among these adjectives in earliest childhood
and was nearly buried with opportunity
some of them stuck to me others
finding me American and smooth slipped away
What does the speaker of the poem imply about being American?
1 answer
The speaker implies that being American and smooth caused some of the adjectives from her family to slip away from her.
1 answer