Question

What textual clues does the author provide to indicate that the people in need on Christmas morning are an immigrant family?

Answer 1

Answer:

According to the following quotes from the passage "Little Women"
"Merry Christmas, little daughters! I'm glad you began at once, and hope you will keep on. But I want to say one word before we sit down. Not far away from here lies a poor woman with a little newborn baby. Six children are huddled into one bed to keep from freezing, for they have no fire. There is nothing to eat over there, and the oldest boy came to tell me they were suffering hunger and cold. My girls, will you give them your breakfast as a Christmas present?"

"A poor, bare, miserable room it was, with broken windows, no fire, ragged bedclothes, a sick mother, wailing baby, and a group of pale, hungry children cuddled under one old quilt, trying to keep warm.

How the big eyes stared and the blue lips smiled as the girls went in.

"Ach, mein Gott! It is good angels come to us!" said the poor woman, crying for joy."

"Das ist gut!" "Die Engel-kinder!" cried the poor things as they ate and warmed their purple hands at the comfortable blaze. The girls had never been called angel children before, and thought it very agreeable, especially Jo, who had been considered a 'Sancho' ever since she was born. That was a very happy breakfast, though they didn't get any of it. And when they went away, leaving comfort behind, I think there were not in all the city four merrier people than the hungry little girls who gave away their breakfasts and contented themselves with bread and milk on Christmas morning."

Some textual clues that indicate that the people in need on Christmas morning are from an immigrant family are "Not far away from here lies a poor woman with a little newborn baby. Six children are huddled into one bed to keep from freezing, for they have no fire", as well as "Das ist gut!" "Die Engel-kinder!" cried the poor things as they ate and warmed their purple hands at the comfortable blaze.

"Immigrant" by definition states as " A person who comes to live permanently in a foreign country."
From the first textual clue it depicts a lonely mother struggling to maintain her six children, for the second textual clue it shows us the poor girls talking in a foreign language which reveals that this family in need must be from a foreign country. Going back by definition immigrant is "A person that comes to live permanently in a foreign country", if we take the first textual clue into account this shows us that "A person" would be the lonely mother, furthermore the mother brought her newborn baby besides 6 children this would go to signify that the mother plans on staying in the country, In addition the girls spoke in a foreign language as stated by the author, ""Die Engel-kinder!" cried the poor things as they ate and warmed their purple hands at the comfortable blaze."  In conclusion the mother is from a foreign country that brought her 6 children with her to stay in a different country, the evidence that backs this statement is the use of a foreign language depicted by the young girls.

Explanation:

Hope this helps you.