Question

name:
me, myself, and i: examining personal identity in shor
hair by elizabeth acevedo - key questions
todays materials:
date:

• video: hair by elizabeth acevedo
• poem: hair by elizabeth acevedo

objective: analyze how the author uses diction and figurative language to show contrasting perspectives on the
speakers hair.

1. what examples of figurative language (i.e., simile, metaphor, personification) does the poet use to describe her hair?

name at least 2. how do they enhance (improve) the meaning of the poem?
9th grade ela
examining personal identity in short texis
hair
by: elizabeth acevedo
adapted by fishtank staff
1 my mother tells me to fix my hair.
and by fix, she means straighten. she means whiten.
but how do you fix this ship - wrecked history of hair?
the true meaning of stranded, when trusses held tight like african cousins in ship bellies, did
they imagine that their great - grand - children would look like us, and would hate them how we
do? trying to find ways to erase them out of our skin, iron them out of our hair, this wild tangle of
hair that strangles air.
2 you call them wild curls. i call them breathing. ancestors spiraling.
cant you see them in this wet hair that waves like hello?
3 they say dominicans can do the best hair.
i mean they wash, set, flatten the spring in any loc - but what they mean is were the best at
swallowing amnesia, in a cup of morisoñando, die dreaming because wed rather do that than
live in this reality, caught between orange juice and milk, between reflections of the sun and
whiteness.
what they mean is, why would you date a black man? what they mean is, a prieto cocolo
what they mean is, why would two oppressed people come together? its two times the
trouble.
what they really mean is, have you thought of your daughters hair?
4 and i dont tell them that we love like sugar cane, brown skin, pale flesh, meshed in pure
sweetness. the children of children of fields. our bodies curve into one another like an echo,
and i let my curtain of curls blanket us from the world, how our children will be beautiful. or dust
skin, and diamond eyes. hair, a reclamation.
how i will break pride down their back so from the moment they leave the womb they will be
born in love with themselves.
5 momma that tells me to fix my hair, and so many words remain unspoken. because all i can reply
is, you cant fix what was never broken.

Explanation:

• Simile: "trusses held tight like African cousins in ship bellies" - Compares the tight - holding of trusses to African cousins in ship bellies (evoking the trans - Atlantic slave trade), adding a historical and emotional weight to the description of hair. It makes the reader think about the heritage and struggle associated with the hair.
• Metaphor: "this wild tangle of hair that strangles air" - Describes the hair as a "wild tangle" that "strangles air". It gives the hair a more vivid and almost alive quality. It emphasizes the unruly nature of the hair in a more impactful way than just saying it's unruly. Also, "Hair, a reclamation" - Treats hair as a symbol of reclamation. It implies that the hair is not something to be fixed (in the mother's sense) but something to be proud of, a reclaiming of identity.

Answer:

• Simile: "trusses held tight like African cousins in ship bellies" enhances the meaning by connecting the hair's description to a historical trauma (slave trade), adding depth to the poem's exploration of identity and heritage.
• Metaphor: "this wild tangle of hair that strangles air" makes the hair's unruly nature more vivid and symbolic. "Hair, a reclamation" turns hair into a powerful symbol of self - identity and pride.