Mai and Ba
Where are Mai and Ba at?
Vietnam
What is the vocab term?
to make a serious promise or commitment, often in a ceremonial or formal manner
Vow
What is Mai's perspective in paragraph 1?
a. Calm
b. Sad
c. Irritated
D. Happy
Irritated
What is 3rd person point of view?
the narrator is outside of the story and refers to all characters by using the pronouns he/she/they .
What is a simile?
Comparing using like or as.
How mainly do Mai’s views about Bà change throughout the excerpt?
A. Mai realizes that she knows much less about Bà than she has always believed.
B. Mai feels that Bà understands her less as they both age.
C. Mai finds that she has missed Bà’s storytelling and regrets dismissing them when she was young.
D. Mai grows resentful toward Bà when Bà makes her come along to Vietnam.
A. Mai realizes that she knows much less about Bà than she has always believed.
What is the vocabulary term?
Done with great attention to detail; with extreme thoroughness
Meticulously
What is the narrator's perspective?
Please give me the definition/denotation.
A narrator’s particular attitude toward or way of regarding something.
What is the point of view of both narrators in Listen, Slowly?
1st person
What is a hyperbole?
Extreme exaggeration.
Which of the following best explains why Bà has returned to Vietnam?
A. Bà wants to collect her husband’s old possessions that were recently found.
B. Bà hopes to find out what happened to her husband during the war because he never returned.
C. Bà thinks that if she goes back to the house they lived in after they were married, she will find her husband there.
D. Bà wants to visit her husband’s grave.
B. Bà hopes to find out what happened to her husband during the war because he never returned.
What is the vocabulary term?
to choose or nominate someone for a position
Anoint
Based on this passage, how has Bà’s story impacted Mai’s perspective?
14 “Ông sống?” Ông alive? I suck in a huge breath, willing this to be the right moment to ask. I softly squeeze Bà’s hand to mean I’ve been thinking about this for some time.
15 Bà understands; she always has. I don’t know how, but Bà has always known how I feel at any given moment, especially when I’m sad, especially when I’m in need of a quartered lemon drop.
16 “I do not live on butterfly wings, my child. His chances of remaining among us rank as likely as finding an ebony orchid. Yet I hold on to hope because I have been unable to imagine his ending. If intact, he would have returned to this room. We promised should life separate us, we would rejoin under the blue goddess. He never returned to us, but he never truly departed. I came here knowing I will unlikely be granted him in person, but perhaps I will be allowed to reclaim something of his, anything at all. The guard knows how Ông spent his days, what he ate, what he wore, what he said, the weight in his eyes, the shade of his skin, the whistle of his breaths. I need to absorb every morsel deemed knowable, then I have vowed to release the heaviness of longing.”
A. Mai realizes that she does not know how to help Bà in this situation; she can only listen.
B. Mai no longer seems irritated, and she starts to show an interest in learning more about Ba’s life.
C. Mai starts to accept that she and her grandmother have different ways of dealing with conflicts.
D. Mai realizes why Bà needs her to be on this journey, and she regrets how she was acting.
B. Mai no longer seems irritated, and she starts to show an interest in learning more about Ba’s life.
What is omniscient point of view?
omniscient point of view: the narrator can describe the thoughts of all characters
What is onomatopoeia?
Sounds
Which inference about Mai is best supported by the following passage (paragraph 18)?
My body loosens and expands, remembering how it used to make room for her words to wiggle deep into the tiny crevices along my bones, muscles, and joints. Becoming a part of me. I’ve always been able to imagine her as a rich girl who grew up in wartime and ended up raising seven children alone. She always says, “Cờ đến tay, phải phất.” Flag in hand, you must wave it. It wasn’t about being brave or extraordinary so much as inhaling all the way to her core and accepting her responsibilities.
A. Mai used to enjoy her Grandmother's stories very much.
B. Mai is tired of always hearing the same story from her grandmother.
C. Mai has never liked listening to her grandmother’s stories.
D. Mai does not think her ideas about her grandmother will ever change.
A. Mai used to enjoy her Grandmother's stories very much.
What is the vocabulary term?
Having a strong smell or taste
Pungent
As Ba shares her stories with Mai, what is she trying to do?
A. Make Mai bored
B. Frustrate Mai
C. Connect with Mai
D. Relive her past
C. Connect with Mai
What is limited point of view?
limited point of view: the narrator can describe the actions of characters, but only the thoughts of one or none
What is personification?
Giving human-like qualities to non-human things.
The following passage (paragraph 5) mainly shows that .
Now Bà wants my other arm. Noooo. I quickly stick my finger into the jar, scoop out a pungent gob and pretend to rub it on my bites. I’m actually massaging it on the flat skin surrounding the bumps. Even so, it burns. Bà waits for me to assault my calves and ankles and feet and neck and face. My eyes have turned into waterfalls. Tiger Balm is no joke. Finally, Bà closes the lid.
A. Mai hates the smell of Tiger Balm
B. Mai thinks that Tiger Balm is the best cure for mosquito bites
C. Mai respects her grandmother enough that she willingly uses the Tiger Balm to make her grandmother happy
D. Mai does not care about what her grandmother thinks is best
C. Mai respects her grandmother enough that she willingly uses the Tiger Balm to make her grandmother happy
What is the vocabulary term?
to change or take action in response to something
React
What is Ba's purpose for going to Vietnam?
To find out what happened to Ong.
How can we tell when a different narrator is speaking to us in a story?
Italics
What is a metaphor?
Comparing two unlike things without using like or as.