Read Pat Mora’s poem quoted in "The Leader in the Mirror." Immigrants wrap their babies in the American flag, feed them mashed hot dogs and apple pie, name them Bill and Daisy, buy them blonde dolls that blink blue eyes or a football and tiny cleats before the baby can even walk, speak to them in thick English Now read the excerpt from Mora’s essay "The Leader in the Mirror." My own father was once a paper boy for the newspaper hosting the banquet. I might not have known that fact, nor his long history of hard work, had I not been listening to him with my tape recorder a few years ago. I did not want the students to wait as long as I had to begin preserving the rich inheritance of their family voices. The strength of their heritage would give them the courage to face the future. How are the two passages different? In the poem, Mora writes about immigrant families’ desire to fit in. In the essay, she writes about the importance of remembering one’s heritage. In the poem, Mora writes about her own family heritage. In the essay, she writes about immigrant families in general. The poem uses flowery language, while the language in the essay is scientific. The poem is written with a rhyming pattern, while the essay is not written in rhyme.

The poem starts with how immigrants “wrap their babies in the American flag”, connoting wrapping them in an American identity. They raise them like they think an American baby would be raised, trying to cover every aspect of their life- feeding them popular American food, familiarising them with American toys, giving them common American names and speaking to them in “thick English”, referring to the American accent, instead of their native language which they kept hidden as the poem further mentions, because of the desire to fit in and a fear of not being able to.

The essay on the other hand, talks about the life of her father and the struggles he had faced, and how listening to his story made her realise the importance of remembering one’s heritage. The story of his hard work impacted her and she wanted the students to know and remember their heritage early in life, as she felt that, “The strength of their heritage would give them the courage to face the future.”

While the poem focuses on the future and the successors, and creating a new life with a new identity, the essay emphasises the importance of the past and preserving the voices of predecessors.

The other options are incorrect because:

The second option mistakes the content of the poem with that of the essay and vice versa.
The third one is incorrect since both the poem and the essay are written in simple and not flowery language.
The poem does not follow any rhyme scheme. Hence, the fourth option is also incorrect.