My Mother Enters the Workforce

What is an example of a sleeve that the girl’s mother was “tested on” in the poem “My Mother Enters the Work Force?”

• Raglan

• Bell

• Leg o’ mutton

• Both A and C

Before the mother in “My Mother Enters the Work Force” can go to business school, she must do what?

• Move to another neighborhood

• Get a recommendation from her teacher

• Work as a seamstress in an alterations shop

• Find someone to look after her daughter

Look at the following lines from “My Mother Enters the Work Force:”

“Evenings she took in piecework, the treadle machine with its locomotive whir traveling the lit path of the needle through quicksand taffeta or velvet deep as a forest.” What is a treadle machine?

• A machine used for typing

• A machine used for sewing

• A machine used for shredding

• A machine used for printing

In the afternoons, what did the mother in “My Mother Enters the Work Force” do?

• Work on piecework

• Go to night class

• Work on alterations

• Go grocery shopping

From whose perspective is the poem “My Mother Enters the Work Force” probably written from?

• The daughter

• The mother

• An omniscient, 3rd person narrator

• None of the above

When will the mother’s “journey” at business school be complete?

• When she can pay for more classes

• When she quits her job at the alterations shop

• When her daughter finishes school

• When she can break a hundred words without errors

In the poem “My Mother Enters the Work Force,” what kind of fabric is taffeta?

• Crisp with a lustrous sheen

• Scratchy and dull

• Fragile and lightweight

• None of the above

When did the mother in “My Mother Enters the Work Force” take in piecework?

• Mornings

• Afternoons

• Evenings

• Weekends