Question

Please please help

Describe the speaker:

Imagery:

Figurative Language:

Tone:

Topic (and Theme):

Mami Works
Excerpt from The Poet X

Cleaning an office building in Queens.
Rides two trains in the early morning
so she can arrive at the office by eight.
She works at sweeping, and mopping,
emptying trash bins, and being invisible.
Her hands never stop moving, she says.
Her fingers rubbing the material of plastic gloves
like the pages of her well-worn Bible.
Mami rides the train in the afternoon,
another hour and some change to get to Harlem.
She says she spends her time reading verses,
getting ready for the evening Mass,
and I know she ain’t lying, but if it were me
I’d prop my head against the metal train wall,
hold my purse tight in my lap, close my eyes
against the rocking, and try my best to dream

Answer 1

Speaker: The speaker is the daughter of Mami who works cleaning an office building.

Imagery: The poem uses sensory details to create vivid imagery, such as "sweeping, and mopping, emptying trash bins," "fingers rubbing the material of plastic gloves," "hold my purse tight in my lap," and "close my eyes against the rocking."

Figurative Language: The poem does not contain any significant examples of figurative language.

Tone: The tone of the poem is admiring and respectful towards Mami, the speaker's mother, who works hard and is devoutly religious. There is also an undercurrent of frustration that the speaker cannot understand or relate to her mother's hard work and piety.

Topic (and Theme): The poem's topic is Mami's work and the speaker's reflection on her mother's life. The theme of the poem is the sacrifices that immigrant parents make for their families, the struggle of working-class life, and the generational divide between parents and children.

Step-by-step explanation: