My Grandmother Washes her Feet in the Sink at Sears

Based on the following stanza, how do the other women feel about the grandmother (stanza 2)?

Respectable Sears matrons shake their heads and frown
as they notice what my grandmother is doing,
an affront to American porcelain,
a contamination of American Standards
by something foreign and unhygienic
requiring civic action and possible use of disinfectant spray

• The women wish the grandmother would return to shopping so they can have more privacy.

• The women hate the grandmother.

• The women resent the granddaughter for not intervening earlier.

• The women feel the grandmother’s actions are offensive.

Tags

CCSS.RL.11-12.8

CCSS.RL.8.10

CCSS.RL.8.5

CCSS.RL.9-10.10

CCSS.RL.9-10.9

What can the reader infer about the grandmother from the following lines (stanza 3)?

And if you Americans knew anything
about civilization and cleanliness,
you’d make wider washbasins, anyway

• She is highly interested in interior design.

• She is not ashamed of her culture or behavior.

• She believes American women are the most unhygienic group of people.

  
  

• She is annoyed with her granddaughter for not defending her.

Tags

CCSS.RI. 9-10.1

CCSS.RI.11-12.1

CCSS.RI.8.1

CCSS.RL.11-12.2

CCSS.RL.9-10.2

What is most likely a theme of these lines (stanzas 3-4)?

My grandmother knows one culture—the right one,

as do these matrons of the Middle West. For them,
my grandmother might as well have been squatting
in the mud over a rusty tin in vaguely tropical squalor

• We tend to believe our own culture is superior.

• We tend to believe other cultures are superior to our own.

Tags

CCSS.RI. 9-10.9

CCSS.RI.11-12.9

CCSS.RL.11-12.2

CCSS.RL.8.2

CCSS.RL.9-10.2

What is Sears

• A grocery store

• A pharmacy

• A restaurant

• A department store

Tags

CCSS.RI.11-12.5

CCSS.RI.6.5

CCSS.RI.7.5

CCSS.RI.8.5

CCSS.RI.9-10.5

What does Matron mean?

• a mature and dignified woman

• a robot

Tags

CCSS.RI.11-12.4

CCSS.RI.9-10.4

CCSS.RL.11-12.4

CCSS.RL.8.4

CCSS.RL.9-10.4

Which word means etiquette

• Decorum

• Civilization

• Mandatory

• Ritual

Tags

CCSS.RI.11-12.4

CCSS.RI.9-10.4

CCSS.RL.11-12.4

CCSS.RL.8.4

CCSS.RL.9-10.4

Which word means required

• Ritual

• Decorum

• Mandatory

• Civilization

Tags

CCSS.RI.11-12.4

CCSS.RI.9-10.4

CCSS.RL.11-12.4

CCSS.RL.8.4

CCSS.RL.9-10.4

Ritual means:

• A Shopping trip

• A religious ceremony

Tags

CCSS.RI.11-12.4

CCSS.RI.8.4

CCSS.RI.9-10.4

CCSS.RL.11-12.4

CCSS.RL.9-10.4

What is culture

• A way of life including art, food, music, and religion

• being rude to someone

Tags

CCSS.RI. 9-10.9

CCSS.RI.11-12.9

CCSS.RL.11-12.2

CCSS.RL.8.2

CCSS.RL.9-10.2

a society characterized by its advanced development and organization

• A store

• Civilization

Tags

CCSS.RF.3.3B

CCSS.RF.3.3C

CCSS.RF.3.3D

CCSS.RF.4.3A

CCSS.RF.5.3A