2. Lorde’s account of her experiences at age four is strikingly and sensuously detailed. Identify the points in the text at which the description is particularly "thick." Why should her memories of certain things (e.g., of the vanilla she uses to color and scent her flour-clay dolls, of herself bundled up by her mother in "arctic gear," and most of all, of Toni and her stylish outfit) be so clear and intense, even after all these years?
3. In many ways, this excerpt from Zami explores the gulf between a child and her mother. What would explain the difference between how Audre sees Toni, as "the most beautiful little girl I had ever seen alive in my life," and how her mother sees her, as "such a skinny little thing . . . out in this weather with no snowsuit or a stitch of leggings on her legs"? Why does Audre feel compelled to "make sure [Toni] was real"? If Audre’s mother had seen this attempt to verify Toni’s "realness," how might she have understood it differently? Why does Audre’s mother respond to her request to have a red coat like Toni’s with the apparent non sequitur "How many times I tell you not to call me Mommy on the street?"