1.1. what roles do the adults or older figures play in the lives of the various narrators? select a figure from each of the four memoirs and write one sentence answering the question for each memoir.

2. all of these memoirs are told from the first-person point of view. why is it important that they are told in the first person? how would they be different if they were told from a different point of view?

3. select one of the memoirs from this unit and explain its theme. give at least one example from the story that illustrates the theme.

4. which narrator faces the most significant conflict? what is the conflict? is it resolved satisfactorily? why or why not?


from the memoirs:
"a cub pilot"
"no gumption"
"barrio boy"
"i know why the caged bird sings"

1.1 In "A cub pilot" by Mark Twain, I select Brown who is the professional pilot who has conflicts with  Mark Twain, a young apprentice.

In "No Gumption", by Russell Baker, I pick the author's teacher for giving him the idea of writing to make a living.

In "Barrio Boy" by Ernesto Galarza, I pick Enriqueta, his mother, who keeps him away from violence.

In "I know why the caged bird sings" by Maya Angelou, I pick her grandmother who raised her until she was a mother at 16.

2.- When we read a nice story in the first person it is like when you have the narrator sitting in front of you telling the story. The point of view is more intimate. If the story were told in the third person, it would be more formal.

3.- In "No Gumption" by Russel Baker, the author is "encouraged" by his mother always telling him that he has "no gumption" and many other "maxims" to "motivate" him. Russell doesn't like to sell newspapers or magazines and his mother keeps telling him to pursue a life in business. Russell's struggle goes on until her mother realizes that Russell has to find  a less competitive job. When the author is graded with an "A" by a teacher who also tells him that he could be a writer, he feels great and concludes that writers don't need to have gumption and eventually finds his way in life.

4.- The conflict of the story is that Russell doesn't want to sell newspapers or magazines, but his mother does want him  to do that.

i'm going to go whit a