Essential Question: What does it mean to be “American”? What have these poems taught you about American identity? Discuss this
question with your group.

Read the excerpt from "a pair of silk stockings." but she went on feeling the soft, sheeny luxurious things—with both hands now, holding them up to see them glisten, and to feel them glide serpent-like through her fingers. which best describes the underlying tone of the excerpt created by the connotations of the words “soft,” ”luxurious,” “glisten,” and “serpent-like”? 1. gloom 2. temptation 3. forgiveness 4. suspicion