Question

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?

Answer 1

The poem first starts with a very happy and pleased tone, but later as we continue reading the tone turns up into a disappointment and sad one. The tone here reveals about the speaker that she had a lot of struggles and difficulties trying to learn english because she has spoken italian for her entire life.  

Answer 2

The tone of the poem is nostalgic for a time before the speaker starts kindergarten and finds that she cannot communicate with others. It reveals that the narrator's personality changed when she found it difficult to speak with others; she becomes quieter and less confident. Based on this excerpt, the poem could be about the difficulty of growing up as a minority.