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136 Unit 2 ■ Analyzing Comparisons and Representations Arisa White ■ It was easier to manage 137 UNIT 2

the ball almost dribbled him Guided Questions PRACTICE TEXT INTRODUCING THE TEXT
he formed his own lay-up line
in the bluegrass FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE You may choose to open the selection by
wildcat jersey discussing how someone’s outward presentation
45 hanging like a summer dress (through their hair style, clothing, and other
on a court made bald It was easier to manage accessories) is directly connected to their
from daily use confidence and ability to comfortably navigate
and instead of writing 4. The basketball court replaced what activity? Arisa White social situations. You may ask students to recall
Copyright (c) 2023 Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers. Uncorrected proofs were used with this sample chapter.
his spelling words a time when they had a haircut that made them
feel less of themselves, or if they have ever had
50 he signed a contract 5. How does the pronoun “he” here connect the literal and to wear clothing that simply did not feel right.
he could barely read figurative meanings of the poem? THE TEXT IN CONTEXT You may discuss how that impacted their sense
inked a commitment Poet Arisa White is an assistant professor in English and Creative Writ- of self and confidence.
in big block letters ing at Colby College. A Brooklyn native, she attended Sarah Lawrence
Distributed by Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers. Strictly for use with its products. Not for redistribution.
to the NBA College and received her MFA from the University of Massachusetts,
Amherst. White’s books include A Penny Saved (2012), Hurrah’s Nest
55 and NIKE (2012), and You’re the Most Beautiful Thing That Happened (2016). She IDEAS IN THE TEXT
and SPRITE cowrote Biddy Mason Speaks Up (2020), a children’s book about Biddy
scribbled superstar in cursive 6. What is being compared to schoolwork? How does this Mason, a woman who escaped slavery to become a businesswoman, Race
with a fat red pencil contribute to a deeper figurative meaning? a civil leader, and a philanthropist. She explores her childhood exten- © Nye Lyn Tho Family
and practiced his sively in her poetry as is evident in “It was easier to manage.” Tradition
60 million dollar smile Isolation
not his multiplication table Betrayal
thinking of how many FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE Belonging
® SKILLS
chocolate milks AP PRACTICE Explaining the Function of Words and Childhood
he could buy Phrases
65 with his signing bonus
or his all-star game As you read White’s poem, look for examples of repetition and referents TRM Graphic Organizer: Explaining the Function
appearance fee that emphasize her message. Record those examples and explain how they
contribute to her message. of Words and Phrases
after recess
another shooting 7. How does the repetition of “another” contribute to your Analyzing Linguistic Associations
70 another tragic death interpretation of the poem? Examples from
another little genius Literary Element the Text Effect
who will never test out Antecedents:
of a dream Authors refer to nouns, pronouns,
that kills legitimate futures phrases, or clauses expressed in earlier
75 every night parts of a text. The first or initial instance
under street lights is called the antecedent of the referent.
wherever these products Repetition:
Repetition occurs when a writer uses the
are sold . . . CREATIVE WRITING
exact word or phrase consecutively or
throughout a text.
Alliteration is a type of repetition when It’s All about the “It”
consonant sounds at the beginning of In “It was easier to manage,” White never repeats
multiple consecutive or closely placed the words used in the title, but she does use
words in a text. other words to depict the speaker’s discomfort.
Point out the potential referents for the pronoun
in the title—her hair, the goodbye, sitting alone
in the cafeteria, the food, her loneliness, the
mispronunciation of her name, the gunshots, the
footsteps on the roof, or the gravel. Ask students
which of these they think the speaker had to
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“manage” best to understand her changing
CRITICAL APPROACHES circumstances. Then, ask students to write a
Biographical poem with an ambiguous pronoun in the title.
Use these or let your students pick their own:
Author Arisa White describes her book Hurrah’s expression of my heroic journey.” The act of
Nest (of which “It was easier to manage” is creative self-expression is a powerful tool for It was easier to understand
a part) as an autobiographical collection of processing emotions and memories. As White It was so confusing
poetry. White stated that she writes through suggests in her interview, the act of writing It was almost unbearable
what she calls “the lens of self.” She says, “I’m poetry allows writers to understand their It was full of joy
making sense of what’s going on around me, circumstances from a different perspective, When they finish, ask them to identify all potential
as well as investigating what is going on inside which may change how poets relate to their referents for the pronoun in their poem and how
of me. . . . The poems I’m writing now are an own identities or memories. each one may change the focus of the poem.

Arisa White It was easier to manage 137

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