"Combing" by Gladys Cardiff

"Women" by Alice Walker

"maggie and milly and molly and may" by E. E. Cummings
"Astonishment" by Wisfawa Szymborska

READING TEST
1. The speaker in Gladys Cardiff's "Combing" considers women's
relationships while
a. combing her own hair.
b. combing her mother's hair.
c. having her hair combed by her mother.
d. combing her daughter's hair.

2. When the speaker in ~Combing" says "I take her place." she means
a. she remembers her own childhood by watching her daughter.
b. she imagines her mother's feelings in the same circumstance.
c. she and her daughter trade places, and the daughter combs.
d. she understands what her grandmother went through.

3. Which of the following best explains the meaning of "Combing"?

a. Women understand each other because they take care of each other's hair.
b. Combing hair has always eliminated tension between generations.
c. Through acts as simple as combing hair, women are bound to each other
through time.
d. Hair styles and techniques have changed, but women's hair has always been
important to them.

4. In Alice Walker's "Women," the best overall description of the women

would be _.
a. hopeful
b. respectful
c. aggressive
d. determined

5. When Walker writes about how women led "Across

mined/Fields/Booby-trapped/ Ditches" she is referring to
a. World War II technology.
b. assistance given to the military to restore order.
c. the danger of pursuing education in the segregated South.
d. specific terrorist tactics used by those opposed to desegregation.

6. At the end of "Women," the poet points out that the women's efforts
toward education were all the more remarkable because
a. they valued education deeply without having it.
b. there were more difficulties than they could have imagined.
c. books and desks were hard to come by in the segregated South.
d. they had so little chance of success.

7. What kind of feeling is conveyed by the lapses in rhyme in "maggie and

milly and molly and may"?
a. Calm
b. Dramatic
c. Haunting
d. Playful
KEY

READING TEST

"Combing" by Gladys Cardiff

"Women" by Alice Walker
"maggie and milly and molly and may" by E. E. Cummings
"Astonishment" by Wisfawa Szymborska

1. The speaker in Gladys Cardiff's "Combing" considers women's

relationships while
a. combing her own hair.
b. combing her mother's hair.
c. having her hair combed by her mother.
d. combing her daughter's hair.

2. When the speaker in ~Combing" says "I take her place." she means
a. she remembers her own childhood by watching her daughter.
b. she imagines her mother's feelings in the same circumstance.
c. she and her daughter trade places, and the daughter combs.
d. she understands what her grandmother went through.

3. Which of the following best explains the meaning of "Combing"?

a. Women understand each other because they take care of each other's hair.
b. Combing hair has always eliminated tension between generations.
c. Through acts as simple as combing hair, women are bound to each other
through time.
d. Hair styles and techniques have changed, but women's hair has always been
important to them.

4. In Alice Walker's "Women," the best overall description of the women

would be _.
a. hopeful
b. respectful
c. aggressive
d. determined
 5. When Walker writes about how women led "Across
mined/Fields/Booby-trapped/ Ditches" she is referring to
a. World War II technology.
b. assistance given to the military to restore order.
c. the danger of pursuing education in the segregated South.
d. specific terrorist tactics used by those opposed to desegregation.

6. At the end of "Women," the poet points out that the women's efforts
toward education were all the more remarkable because
a. they valued education deeply without having it.
b. there were more difficulties than they could have imagined.
c. books and desks were hard to come by in the segregated South.
d. they had so little chance of success.

7. What kind of feeling is conveyed by the lapses in rhyme in "maggie and

milly and molly and may"?
a. Calm
b. Dramatic
c. Haunting
d. Playful