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AP Success - AP English Language: "We Are Virginia Tech"

This speech was delivered by Nikki Giovanni on 17 April 2007, one day after a mass shooting at Virginia Tech killed 32 students and professors.

Source 1

We are Virginia Tech. We are sad today, and we will be sad for quite a while. We are not moving on, we are embracing our mourning. We are Virginia Tech. We are strong enough to stand tall tearlessly, we are brave enough to bend to cry, and we are sad enough to know that we must laugh again. We are Virginia Tech. We do not understand this tragedy. We know we did nothing to deserve it, but neither does a child in Africa dying of AIDS, neither do the invisible children walking the night away to avoid being captured by the rogue army, neither does the baby elephant watching his community being devastated for ivory, neither does the Mexican child looking for fresh water, neither does the Appalachian infant killed in the middle of the night in his crib in the home his father built with his own hands, being run over by a boulder because the land was destabilized. No one deserves a tragedy. We are Virginia Tech. The Hokie Nation embraces our own and reaches out with open hearts and hands to those who offer their hearts and minds. We are strong, and brave, and innocent, and unafraid. We are better than we think and not quite what we want to be. We are alive to the imaginations and the possibilities. We will continue to invent the future through our blood and tears and through all our sadness. We are the Hokies. We will prevail. We will prevail. We will prevail. We are Virginia Tech.

Question 1

Multiple choice

The repetition of "We are Virginia Tech" (lines 1, 4, 7, 14, 23) primarily serves to:

Question 2

Multiple choice

In lines 5-6 ("we are strong enough to stand tall tearlessly, we are brave enough to bend to cry"), the contrast between "stand tall tearlessly" and "bend to cry" illustrates the speaker's belief that:

Question 3

Multiple choice

The inclusion of various global tragedies in lines 8-13 serves to:

Question 4

Multiple choice

In line 15 ("The Hokie Nation embraces our own and reaches out..."), "embraces" and "reaches out" suggest that the community's response to tragedy is characterized by:

Question 5

Multiple choice

The phrase "not quite what we want to be" (line 17) implies that the Virginia Tech community:

Question 6

Multiple choice

In lines 18-19 ("We will continue to invent the future through our blood and tears and through all our sadness"), the phrase "invent the future" most likely means:

Question 7

Multiple choice

The repetition of "We will prevail" (lines 20-22) functions to:

Question 8

Multiple choice

The passage's overall tone can best be described as:

Question 9

Multiple choice

In the context of the passage, the repeated phrase "We are Virginia Tech" (lines 1, 4, 7, 14, 23) most likely serves to:

Question 10

Multiple choice

The speaker's use of inclusive language ("we," "our") throughout the passage primarily aims to:

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