"ay, yoyo, you are going to be the one to bring our name to the headlights in this country! that is a beautiful, beautiful speech i want for your father to hear it before he goes to sleep. then i will type it for you, all right? " –“daughter of invention,” julia alvarez in this passage, the mother tries to use an english idiom about having one’s name in lights, which means to be famous. instead, she says that yoyo will bring their name “to the headlights in this country.” what does the mother’s language reveal? what does the mother mean to express about her daughter yoyo? --answers-- she is eager to try english phrases. she is proud and anticipates success.

Excerpt from the right decision lindsay rock telling a

The harlem renaissance dawned in an era of pervasive racism and segregation. although legally "free," many african americans were still bound by ideas that had their roots in the slavery of earlier centuries. identity and freedom are important ideas presented in many of the poems from the harlem renaissance. furthermore, the values of identity and freedom are not unique to particular times and places. as hughes expresses in "dream variations," all humans want to be able to develop their identities in freedom. what role does freedom play in the poems you read in this unit? what is required of a society to enable each individual to be true to his or her identity and be free to live by that identity? write about at least three of the poems, describing how the poet uses imagery to depict freedom and identity, the lack of it, or the desire for it.

Read the excerpt from the poem "growing up italian" by maria mazziotti gillan and answer the question that follows. when i was a little girl, i thought everyone was italian, and that was good. we visted our aunts and uncles, and they visted us. the italian language smooth and sweet in my mouth. in kindergarten, english words fell on me, thick and sharp as hail. i grew silent, the italian word balanced on the edge of my tongue and the english word, lost during the first moment of every question. source: gillan, maria mazziotti. "growing up italian." poetrymagazine.com. poetry magazine, n.d. web. 30 mar. 2011. what is the tone of this poem? what does the tone reveal about the speaker of the poem and the conflict she faces? based on this excerpt, what can you predict about the theme of the poem?