I could've been somebody, you know? my mother says and sighs. She has lived in this city her whole life. She can speak two langu
ages. She can sing an opera. She knows how to fix a TV. But she doesn't know which subway train to take to get downtown. I hold her hand very tight while we wait for the right train to arrive. —"A Smart Cookie,"
Sandra Cisneros
Which inference can you make about the mother’s character based on her actions?
She is not very confident in her abilities.
She depends on her daughter for everything
She has skills that show her intelligence.
She is unable to do most things
I'd consider this a "book smarts" vs. "street smarts" scenario, pretty literally with the idea of not knowing what subway to take. Nothing in the passage shows she isn't confident in her abilities or has any sort of dependence on her daughter, and it states very clearly many things she is able to do.
