1a. What does Molly know about certain words? How does she know this?
2a. Why does the speaker learn to love Africa?
3a. What two things does the speaker say her sister found? On what did her sister frown?
4a. How does Molly come to see her brothers? her sister? her mother? her father?
1b. Why might she tell her sister this? Why might "Sonny up the road" tell her something different than her sister?
2b. Who does Molly refer to when she says "they"?
3b. How might this have made the speaker feel?
4b. Why might she come to feel this way about her family?
5a. Collect memories the speaker shares in the poem that convey her closeness with her sister. Collect details from the poem that illustrate distance between the speaker and her sister.
5b. In your own words, but using examples from the selection for support, explain how the speaker's relationship with her sister changes from the beginning of the poem to the end.
6a. At the end of the poem, who has learned the most about life, the speaker or Molly? Explain.
6b. Imagine that you are Molly, and you have just read Walker's poem. What might your reaction to the poem be? What things might you try to explain to the speaker?
Tone. Is tone in this poem set by the speaker's attitude toward the subject or the reader? Look back to the words you chose from the word bank to describe tone throughout the poem. Return to the poem, and identify words and phrases from the poem that help convey tone as described by the words you chose from the word bank. Generate some words of your own to describe tone in the poem. You may want to consult a thesaurus, using the words from the word bank as a starting point for finding your own words.
Free Verse. Why might Walker have chosen free-verse form for this poem? Can you point out specific places in the poem where Walker deviates from standard writing form? Why might she have done this?
1. Imagine that you are Molly sending the speaker money for college. Write the letter from Molly that accompanies the money she sends.
2. Write a journal entry describing one of Molly's visits home, what you did together, and how you felt when she left.
3. Compose a short free-verse poem about shared memories with a member of your family.
Researching the Background of a Literary Work: Research Log. "For My Sister Molly Who in the Fifties" was published in 1994. In the poem, Walker looks back on memories of her sister from an earlier time in her life. Using library sources and the Internet, do some research on Alice Walker. Create a brief biography for her, jotting down notes on significant events in her life. Then move on to conduct basic research on what life was like for African-American sharecropper farmers in George in the 1950s. When you've finished your research, review your information. Does any of the information you've compiled change the way you look at Walker's poem? If so, explain how and why. If not, explain why. In both cases, use facts from your research to support your view.
Use this log to keep track of the sources you use and the information you find.
Internet sources.
Books and print sources.
Biography.
Identifying Compound Verbs. Identify the subject, the compound verb, and the conjunction that connects them in each sentence below. Use the example below as a guide. You may want to review the Language Arts Survey 3.28, "Working with Compound Subjects, Verbs, and Sentences."
Example
After school, I hopped on my bike and rode to the store. s: I cv: hopped c: and cv: rode
1. Jennifer complained, but she washed the dishes anyway.
2. George's dog whined, barked, and howled when she was outside.
3. The jar fell off the counter and crashed to the ground.
4. Louisa reads or watches television on Saturday mornings.
5. The snake hissed at me and slithered under the bush.
6. I woke up and brushed my teeth.
7. David hit the ball over the fence and ran around the bases.
8. We sat down and opened our books to page 60.
9. The celebrity shook our hands and posed for some pictures.
10. Maggie gave me a taste of her ice cream, but kept the rest for herself.
Use the following subjects to write sentences with compound verbs of your own.
the blue balloon The blue balloon floated up toward the tree and popped. s: balloon cv: floated c: and cv: popped
A. the windshield wipers
B. Tim's brother
C. the gymnasium
D. my lunch
E. The Brady Bunch
F. my best friend
G. Colette, the poodle
H. the marching band
I. the sun
J. the mad scientist
