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 can cause some of the characteristics of one's family to slip away or change. The speaker suggests that their identity as an American caused some of their family's traits to not fully apply to them.
1 answer