Why can't I forget the earnest eyes of the man who said to me in Jordan, "Until you speak Arabic, you will not understand pain"? Ridiculous, I thought. He went on, something to do with an Arab carrying sorrow in the back of the skull that only language cracks. A few words couldn't do it. A general passive understanding wasn't enough. At a neighborhood fair in Texas, somewhere between the German Oom-pah Sausage Stand and the Mexican Gorditas booth, I overheard a young man say to his friend, "I wish I had a heritage. Sometimes I feel - so lonely for one." And the tall American trees were dangling their thick branches right down over his head. - "Speaking Arabic," Naomi Shihab Nye What is Nye's purpose in her essay?

Question

Cael Abbott

English

7 March, 04:15

Why can't I forget the earnest eyes of the man who said to me in Jordan, "Until you speak Arabic, you will not understand pain"? Ridiculous, I thought. He went on, something to do with an Arab carrying sorrow in the back of the skull that only language cracks. A few words couldn't do it. A general passive understanding wasn't enough. At a neighborhood fair in Texas, somewhere between the German Oom-pah Sausage Stand and the Mexican Gorditas booth, I overheard a young man say to his friend, "I wish I had a heritage. Sometimes I feel - so lonely for one." And the tall American trees were dangling their thick branches right down over his head. - "Speaking Arabic," Naomi Shihab Nye What is Nye's purpose in her essay?

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Answers (2)

Know the Answer?

Karlie Moran · Answer 1

To show that everyone has a cultural heritage.

Rebecca Daniels · Answer 2

A) The anecdote makes readers feel sorry for the man's lack of heritage, then reminds readers that the man has an equally valuable heritage.

Explanation:

I just did it