Activity 2.5.2 - African American Perspective: Marxist/Conflict

Make a submission

In this activity you will read and analyze the following poem by African-American poet Ross Gay:

Pulled Over in Short Hills, NJ, 8:00 AM

It’s the shivering. When rage grows
hot as an army of red ants and forces
the mind to quiet the body, the quakes
emerge, sometimes just the knees,
but, at worst, through the hips, chest, neck
until, like a virus, slipping inside the lungs
and pulse, every ounce of strength tapped
to squeeze words from my taut lips,
his eyes scanning my car’s insides, my eyes,
my license, and as I answer the questions
3, 4, 5 times, my jaw tight as a vice,
his hand massaging the gun butt, I
imagine things I don’t want to
and inside beg this to end
before the shiver catches my
hands, and he sees,
and something happens. 

Answer the following questions in complete sentences:

  1. What is the setting for the poem? (be as detailed as possible)
  2. What is the conflict in this situation?
  3. Who are the people involved? Provide specific details.
  4. The last line of the poem suggests ‘something happens.’ In your opinion, what could happen?
  5. Ross Gay uses a particular figure of speech three times in the poem. Which figure of speech is that and write down the three examples. What is the effect of these three similes?
  6. How relevant is the poem to issues in the world today?

Submission: PDF format. (file size can't be more than 20 MB)