PMT Who Makes The Journey
“Who Makes the Journey” by Cathy Song
In most cases, it is the old woman who makes the journey; the old man having had the sense to stay put and die at home.
You see her scurrying behind her newly arrived family.
She comes from the Azores and she comes from the Orient.
It makes no difference.
You have seen her before:
the short substantial legs buckle under the weight of the ghost child she carried centuries
ago like a bundle of rags who now turns in front of your windshield, transformed in Western clothes.
The grown woman stops impatiently and self-consciously to motion Hurry to her mother.
Seeping into your side view mirror like a black mushroom blooming in a bowl of water, the stooped gnome figure wades through the river of cars hauling
her sack of cabbages, the white and curved, translucent leaves of which she will wash individually as if they were porcelain cups.
Like black seed buttons sewn onto a shapeless dress, those cryptic eyes rest on your small reflection
for an instant. Years pass.
History moves like an old woman crossing the street.
Name: _____________________
English 2
Date: January 3&4, 2012
Due date: January 9&10, 2012
Prescribed Minimum Task for cycle 4
Response to literature: a written personal response, demonstrating the student’s ability to approach work in an independent fashion
500–1,000 words
Follow MLA format.
Submit your response electronically to turnitin.com. Give a hard copy to your teacher.
How does the imagery and tone help you understand “Who Makes the Journey” by Cathy Song?
In most cases, it is the old woman who makes the journey; the old man having had the sense to stay put and die at home.
You see her scurrying behind her newly arrived family.
She comes from the Azores and she comes from the Orient.
It makes no difference.
You have seen her before:
the short substantial legs buckle under the weight of the ghost child she carried centuries
ago like a bundle of rags who now turns in front of your windshield, transformed in Western clothes.
The grown woman stops impatiently and self-consciously to motion Hurry to her mother.
Seeping into your side view mirror like a black mushroom blooming in a bowl of water, the stooped gnome figure wades through the river of cars hauling
her sack of cabbages, the white and curved, translucent leaves of which she will wash individually as if they were porcelain cups.
Like black seed buttons sewn onto a shapeless dress, those cryptic eyes rest on your small reflection
for an instant. Years pass.
History moves like an old woman crossing the street.
Name: _____________________
English 2
Date: January 3&4, 2012
Due date: January 9&10, 2012
Prescribed Minimum Task for cycle 4
Response to literature: a written personal response, demonstrating the student’s ability to approach work in an independent fashion
500–1,000 words
Follow MLA format.
Submit your response electronically to turnitin.com. Give a hard copy to your teacher.
How does the imagery and tone help you understand “Who Makes the Journey” by Cathy Song?