River Reader Questions #1
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School
Arizona State University *
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Course
101
Subject
English
Date
Apr 3, 2024
Type
Pages
2
Uploaded by reeffbryce
Questions about Purpose
-
In what sense does Mrs. Cullinan’s kitchen serves as Angelou’s “finishing school’? What
is she supposed to learn there? What does she learn?
-
In the sense of Angelou finishing school in Mrs. In Cullinan's kitchen it was
custom at that time for Angelou as a black woman to “learn the mid-Victorian
values with very little money to indulge them, while white girls learned to waltz
and sit gracefully with a teacup”. The main lesson I believe she learned working
in Mrs. Cullinan’s kitchen was to maintain her identity in a world of prejudice.
-
How does Angelou’s description of Mrs. Cullinan’s house as
exact
and
inhuman
support
her purpose in recounting the events that take place there?
-
Angelou’s description of the Mrs. Cullinan’s house supports her purpose in
recounting the events that have taken place there with the exact and inhuman
excess amount of dishware and silverware in Mrs. Cullinan’s kitchen; “There
were goblets, sherbet glasses, ice-cream glasses, wine glasses, green glass
coffee cups with matching saucers, and water glasses”.
Questions about Audience
-
How does Angeou’s comment about the liberal women from Texas identify the
immediate audience for her essay?
-
Angeou’s opening sentences immediately identifies the audience within her
essay with specific characteristics of gender, race, and political views,“ Recently
a white woman from Texas, who quickly described herself as a liberal, asked me
about my hometown.”. Overall illustrating what to expect later within her essay;
the audience she encounters.
-
What assumptions does Angelou make about her other readers when she comments on
the laughter of the white women on the porch?
-
The assumptions Angelou makes about her other readers when she comments
on the laughter of Mrs. Cullinan and her friends eating lunch on the porch were
that her other readers were negative. She later went home to write a poem about
them to get how she was feeling out, “I decided to write a poem on being white,
fat, old, and without children. It was going to be a tragic ballad.”.
Questions about Strategies
-
How does Angelou use the three discussions of her name to organize her narrative?
How does she pace the third discussion to provide an effective resolution for her essay?
-
Angelou organizes her narrative as wanting to retaliate and get even with Mrs.
Cullinan for calling her Mary. She begins by coming in late and leaving early and
then later leaves yolk on some dishes, overall not putting as much effort into her
tasks. Her knowledge on knowing what Mrs. Cullinan’s favorite dishes are and
where they are placed, along with finding the perfect situation in which they
happen to break provide an effective resolution for her essay in getting the
message across that her name is Margaret.
-
How does Angelou’s intention to write a poem about Mrs. Cullinan establish her initial
attitude toward her employer? What changes her attitude toward Mrs. Cullinan’s
“loneliness and pain”?
-
Angelou’s intention to write a poem about Mrs. Cullinan establishes her changing
attitude toward her employer to be resentful and negative. I believe what changes
her attitude toward Mrs. Cullinan’s “loneliness and pain”, was the first interaction
when Mrs. Cullinan calls her Mary and requests her friends also call her Mary.
Angelou’s poem on Mrs. Cullinan focuses on being “white, fat, old and without
children”.
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