This is a great lesson for both current and future teachers. We must pay attention to our students and be open-minded to the things they may teach us. This is one valuable lesson that can create great teachers.

The author is expressing Sasha's desire to improve her lifestyle. To me, this makes me feel empathy for her because she understands that what she does is wrong but it's such an addiction that she really cannot stop.

I wonder if there is any type of significance between the objects that she steals.

Green is said to symbolize respect, so this is ironic since Sasha stole the green wallet, which is not at all respecting someone's belongings.

She is aware of the consequences, and how it affects the other party yet, she continues to do it. These are signs of a major addiction.

At this moment, it is first suggested that Sasha does understand that she has a problem. This was the first time that she admitted to what she is actually doing, which is stealing, not just taking from someone.

Seems like Sasha felt obliged to steal the wallet.

until now or until the point in time under discussion

Venetian masks are handcrafted masks made of paper mache and are worn at Carnival of Venice.

the part of a bell tower where the bells are housed

I wonder what the author's purpose was in writing in that the bank robbers we wearing shiny wing-top shoes, as well as blue business suits. It is very unexpecting.

After rereading, I realized at this moment that there really is a lot of sarcasm in the story, and it's not only coming from Anders.

Really strong word choice here using "smashed" and "ploughed". This gives off some pretty vivid, yet distrubing imagery.

Alliteration What is the purpose of using alliteration in this context?

Looking at the syntax of this line, I initially thought that with a statement like this one, the words would usually be placed differently. However, this placement makes the poem end of really well by concluding it with such a strong statement. It helps to understand what this poem is ultimately about.

The first two lines are end-stopped lines. They make you read at a slower pace, so at this point the poem seems very relaxed and mellow. The following lines are enjambed, which speeds up the pace and makes it feel rushed. This could go along with the anxiousness that the woman might have felt as someone she used to love walked by.

This is an English, or Shakespearean sonnet. It has 14 lines and 10 syllables per line. It follows the rhyme scheme, abab cdcd efef gg, three quatrains and a couplet.

This is figurative language, being that this is a simile comparing the large group of young people to a swarm of butterflies. However, comparing the young people to butterflies gives off a different tone than the one in the first stanza, since it uses words such as beery, animality, weak, and disport, to describe the young people.

I believe this is an Italian sonnet because it is comprised of 14 lines, and each line has 10 syllables. The first 8 lines follow the rhyme scheme, abbaabba, and the remaining 6 lines is a sestet.

This is Spanish, but it is mimicking how Haitians sing without their R's, which are replaced with L's. So, the actual saying in Spanish is "mi madre, mi amor en muerte", which translates to "my mother, my love in death".

The dictionary definition of mainland is, "a large continuous extent of land that includes the greater part of a country or territory, as opposed to offshore islands and detached territories." She is literally using two contrasting concepts to express how men prefer something that she is the total opposite from.

This could relate to how parents, to an extent, want their children to be in need sometimes. Therefore, they can have the satisfaction of being the ones to help or rescue them. I think the speaker was waiting for their child to fall because it is like a moment to cherish, when you can still help your child when they are in need, because there will come a point where a child becomes an adult and won't need a parent's help anymore.

Here is where the speaker starts to talk about the snow much differently. It was once so clean and beautiful, and now it's being compared to dirty laundry. It reminds me of a saying that goes something along the lines of "Beauty doesn't last forever". That was the kind of vibe that I was getting off of this at point of the poem, but I don't think it has anything to do with the bigger meaning of the poem.

This is personification, in which the writer is portraying the snow, which is an inanimate object in a way that seems like it has human-like actions. At the same time, this line is giving off vivid imagery of a bright, white sheet of snow.

I really like this comparison, opposed to saying something very cliche, like an hourglass.

This reminds me of how children don't really have a sense of time.

I get an image of small, green soldiers

I love how she is so determined to know the English language just so that she can help her children when they need it, despite the fact that they laughed at her when she was trying to learn, opposed to helping her.

I really like this comparison between being deaf and not knowing what people are saying, because if she doesn't know or understand a word that anyone is saying, it's so similar to what people feel if they are deaf.

This sparks some emotion for me as a reader because it makes me upset that her own children laugh at her rather than helping their mother learn. You would think that home is where she could feel more included and a little less isolated.

Does the husband have a drinking problem? Is that why he looks down on her for wanting to learn?

Here is where that sense of disconnection becomes more evident. Her children speak English now, and she does not.

This line gives off a sense of change. It definitely seems like her situation was better before the change.

This instantly makes me feel like the speaker probably feels disconnected. I know how it feels to be around people who are fluently speaking another language that I know little or none of.

This is pretty thought provoking. This woman is in his house, which makes you think that she is a family member. However, if that is the case, shouldn't the woman have been happy to see that he had come back home, and been more nurturing and comforting, rather than simply welcoming him in? On the other hand, "Welcoming him in" could give off the impression that he is being welcomed in for the first time. So maybe the things that he had been "remembering" about "his house", weren't actually real.

Initially, I thought that maybe this old woman was his wife. However, shouldn't his wife had been with him to bring him home from the hospital?

"screeching of strings" and "fiddling" makes me think of the violin, which is an instrument that definitely sparks a ton of emotion, but what types of emotions are being referred to here?

Does he not have time for it because he might have forgotten how to play music?

Reifies: to make (something abstract) more concrete or real.

Because of this comparison between the man's mind rattling, and the suitcase, swinging from his hand, I instantly knew that there were items in the suitcase.

Columbine: an aquilegia with long-spurred flowers