A Voice by Pat Mora

A Voice by Pat Mora

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​Speaking up cannot only help the person speaking, but it can help others too. Can you share a time when you spoke up in a difficult situation?

​Genre: Poetry

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• uses sound devices, imagery, and figurative language, such as simile, metaphor, and personification, to express ideas and emotions

• includes rhyme or rhythm to emphasize the musical quality of language

• arranges words and lines in different ways to produce an effect

Open Ended

What do you think about when you hear the words freedom and liberty? Make a list of the connections you make with these words. How meaningful are they to you and the people you know? Share your list and thoughts with the class.

​Making inferences about the tone and speaker

​To make an inference about a literary work, use evidence from the text and your own knowledge to make a logical guess.

The tone of a work expresses the writer’s attitude toward a subject, which influences a work’s mood. Words such as angry, playful, or mocking describe different tones. In a poem, tone and mood are reflected by the speaker, the voice that “talks” to the reader.

​To make inferences about the speaker and tone

• ​Identify the poem’s topic.

  Note qualities of the poem’s images, descriptions, and comparisons. Are they serious, silly, happy, or sad?

  Consider the speaker’s feelings about the topic. Does the speaker seem happy, sad, proud, or angry about it?

​What's the difference between tone and mood?

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​Pat Mora

​ (b. 1942) was born in El Paso, Texas, to a Mexican American family, and today she writes in English and in Spanish. In 1996, she founded a holiday called “El día de los niños / El día de los libros,” or “Children’s Day / Book Day.”

​Purpose for Reading

​Let's read to find out who the speaker is.

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Simile (a reminder)

A simile is a figure of speech that directly compares two things. Similes differ from metaphors by highlighting the similarities between two different things using words such as "like", "as", or "than."
Example: He was as fierce as a lion. (A non example would be "she looks like you" which is just a comparison.)

Special job

• ​Each time you notice a simile in the poem, raise your hand and then put it back down.

Multiple Choice

Read the excerpt from the poem. Then, answer the question. Based on this excerpt, what inference can you make about the speaker’s mother?

But when you looked / around, the only Mexican in the auditorium, / you wanted to hide from those strange faces. / Their eyes were pinpricks, and you faked / hoarseness. (lines 27–31)

• She did not like speaking in public.

• It was exciting for her to be in front of an audience.

• It was painful and frightening for her to feel different.

• She liked to speak Spanish only when talking to large groups.

Multiple Choice

What is a theme or central idea of the poem?

• Learning a new language is difficult.

• People should memorize family stories.

• Family stories communicate a family's history.

• Family stories should be spoken only in native languages.

​A Voice

​Even the lights on the stage unrelenting

as the desert sun couldn’t hide the other

students, their eyes also unrelenting,

students who spoke English every night

as they ate their meat, potatoes, gravy.

Not you. In your house that smelled like

rose powder, you spoke Spanish formal

as your father, the judge without a courtroom

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​in the country he floated to in the dark

on a flatbed truck. He walked slow

as a hot river down the narrow hall

of your house. You never dared to race past him,

to say, “Please move,” in the language

you learned effortlessly, as you learned to run,

the language forbidden at home, though your mother

said you learned it to fight with the neighbors.

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​You liked winning with words. You liked

writing speeches about patriotism and democracy.

You liked all the faces looking at you, all those eyes.

“How did I do it?” you ask me now. “How did I do it

when my parents didn’t understand?”

The family story says your voice is the voice

of an aunt in Mexico, spunky as a peacock.

Family stories sing of what lives in the blood.

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​You told me only once about the time you went

to the state capitol, your family proud as if

you’d been named governor. But when you looked

around, the only Mexican in the auditorium,

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​you wanted to hide from those strange faces.

Their eyes were pinpricks, and you faked

hoarseness. You, who are never at a loss

for words, felt your breath stick in your throat

like an ice-cube. “I can’t,” you whispered.

“I can’t.” Yet you did. Not that day but years later.

You taught the four of us to speak up.

This is America, Mom. The undo-able is done

in the next generation. Your breath moves

through the family like the wind

moves through the trees.

​Turn and Talk

​Get together with a partner and discuss this poem. How would you describe how the speaker feels about her mother?

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​Quiz Time!

Multiple Choice

The lights unrelenting as the desert sun is an example of...

• simile

• metaphor

• onomatopoeia

• alliteration

Multiple Choice

The speaker of the poem is...

• A daughter describing her father's life

• A daughter describing her mother's life

• A grand-daughter describing her grandfather's life

• A grand-daughter describing her grandmother's life

Multiple Choice

What does the phrase "spunky as a peacock" mean in the poem?

• Confident & bossy

• Colorful & fancy

• Quiet & shy

• Brave & energetic

Multiple Choice

What does the title, "A Voice," mean to the poet?

• You should be proud to have "a voice" and speak up for yourself

• You should only use "a voice" when an adult speaks to you

• "A voice" can sound annoying sometimes.

• You need to make sure you choose the right language to speak with