Bring on the tough stuff - there’s not just one right answer.
- What is the real source of the woman's anger and need for violence? What are her "lifelong hidings"?
- There's no regular meter or rhyme in this poem. What is the effect of this? How does it relate to the poem's themes?
- Who do you think the speaker is? Is he a neighbor? A guy walking across the street? Is he the boy himself?
- Why do you think we are never told what the specific relationship between the woman and the boy is? What effect does this have?
- Whipping makes us think of slavery. In what ways might this poem be a reflection on slavery in the American south, or the lives of African Americans in this country?