Mothers Quiz Nikki Giovanni

What does Giovanni mean in the lines “i remember the first time i consciously saw her”?

• The first memory she had of her mother

• The first time she realized her mother’s struggle

• The first time she got picked up from school

• The first time she came back to visit

What was one of the struggles the mother in the poem experienced?

• Having to steal to feed the family

• Getting fired at her job

• Waiting for her husband to come home

• Having to hand stitch clothes for her children

Why must mothers “borne the pains”?

• Child birth is difficult

• They must physically fight off attackers of their children

• They are responsible for the birth of both good and bad people

• Being a single mother is hard

What classic example of Giovanni’s style is seen throughout the poem?

• Writing in haiku

• Enjambment

• Diction

• Quatrains

5. When does Giovanni realize her mother’s struggles?

• When she turns into her mother

• When she gets married

• When she has a kid of her own

• When she herself sits in the dark

6. Why does Giovanni teach her son the poem?

• Only to pass down the tradition from her mother

• To teach her son that it is important to respect women

• To teach her son to be religious

• To give her son a piece of her culture

What does Giovanni feel will happen if her son does not learn the message from the poem?

• He will turn into an atheist

• He will turn into a bad man and hurt his children the way his mother was hurt

• He will run away from home and never have children

• He will not be able to form a bond with Giovanni

Why may Giovanni have not capitalized the “i” in the poem?

• To emphasize the fact that the message is universally seen

• She got lazy and did not want to capitalize

• She wanted to used lowercase to emphasize immaturity

• She felt like she was not important enough to be paid attention to

When did Giovanni write this poem?

• When she is a young child

• When she is an old woman

• When she finds her father

• When she is a young mother

What important historical event probably pushed Giovanni to write the poem?

• The assassination of Kennedy

• The Vietnam War

• The Civil Rights Movement

• The impeachment of Nixon