• One word from the passage I had to look up was pachysandra. Pachysandra terminalis, the Japanese pachysandra, carpet box or Japanese spurge, is a species of flowering plant in the boxwood family Buxaceae, native to Japan, Korea and China and introduced to eastern North America(Patterson).
• Last 6 lines of the 5th paragraph

In this excerpt the author focuses on her Dad’s reaction to her killing the chicken. At first he is just watching, but eventually it becomes evident that his demeanor transitions to that of disappointment. The author then elaborates on why the father is disappointed by describing the daughter vividly. The fact that she pointed out she is a dropout reflects a possible reason for his disappointment. In addition, in the following line they point out how the tips of her hair are aquamarine which in a way seems like a nod to her femininity. This same small detail also suggests her femininity is the reason for her being unable to kill a chicken the ‘right’ way. A major implication may be that she dropped out for nothing considering she can’t even kill a chicken, contributing to her fathers disappointment. The fact that the bird was still momentarily alive after this fact emphasizes her failure even more. I think this passage is important because it gives you a better sense of why her killing a chicken was a relevant event. It makes me wonder why she isn’t able to kill a chicken properly.

• One discussion question i’d like to raise is what makes the murder of the chicken significant to the author?