PART A: Which statement best describes the theme of this poem?
A. Death itself is cruel because everyone dies alone and leaves their loved ones
behind.
B. The inevitability of death erases differences between individuals.
C. Tragedy occurs both on the grand, collective scale and on the smaller, individual
scale.
D. War desensitizes people to loss and death over time.
2. PART B: Which quote from the poem best supports the answer to Part A?
A. “To depart without death or birth certificates / the dictator does not give receipts
/ when he takes your life” (Lines 30-32)
B. “It solved by itself a math problem / that multiplied the one death by millions /
to equal homeland.” (Lines 37-39)
C. “He has an audience, too, / an audience that claps / until the bones begin to
rattle —” (Lines 41-43)
D. “the full bag finally in her hand, / unlike her disappointed neighbor” (Lines 45-46)