Why do you think ivan ilyichâs biggest torment is the pretense of his family and friends that he is not dying? what is the bigger message that tolstoy is giving readers in this excerpt? â  excerpt:
what tormented ivan ilyich most was the deception, the lie, which for some reason they all accepted, that he was not dying but was simply ill, and he only need keep quiet and undergo a treatment and then something very good would result.

Read the excerpt from the poem "growing up italian" by maria mazziotti gillan and answer the question that follows. when i was a little girl, i thought everyone was italian, and that was good. we visted our aunts and uncles, and they visted us. the italian language smooth and sweet in my mouth. in kindergarten, english words fell on me, thick and sharp as hail. i grew silent, the italian word balanced on the edge of my tongue and the english word, lost during the first moment of every question. source: gillan, maria mazziotti. "growing up italian." poetrymagazine.com. poetry magazine, n.d. web. 30 mar. 2011. what is the tone of this poem? what does the tone reveal about the speaker of the poem and the conflict she faces? based on this excerpt, what can you predict about the theme of the poem?