“This is my mother: When I say the word in fun to one of my sisters, my mother slaps me across the mouth and the word is lost for years and years.” (paragraph 2) The narrator’s mother is . The narrator’s mother is . The narrator’s mother is . The narrator’s mother is . This is my mother: She says, “One monkey don't stop no show.”

(paragraph 7)

This is my mother: As the questions go on, she takes from her pocketbook document after document, as if they will support my right to attend school, as if she has been saving them up for just this moment. (paragraph 21)

This is my mother: She passes through the doors and I can still hear the loud sounds of her shoes. And even when the teacher turns me toward the classrooms and I hear what must be the singing and talking of all the children in the world, I can still hear my mother's footsteps above it all.