“…the sun rose, pushing its pink spikes through the slant of corn stalks” (Parker 7-8). This line presents the image of the South. This probably explains the word usage within the poem and the slang used by the grandmother. The grandmother and the speaker are snapping beans. His or her grandmother seems to know that there has been a change in her life. “She asked ‘How’s school a-goin’?’”. (Parker 14) There seems to be a moment of silence while the grandmother still waits for the speaker to respond. A lot of things must have been going through the speaker’s mind. “She reached the leather of her hand over the bowl and cupped my quivering chin…” (Parker 20-22). Her grandmother seems to be aware of what is going on and tries to show her grandchild that he or she can relate to her because at one point of her life she was young.
In line 12-13 the speaker comments “… I could feel the soft gray of her stare”. He or she must feel intimidated by the grandmother’s look. Imagine a moment of silence in between a question that you are not prepared to answer and then, they begin to stare at you. It is hard to hide something, especially when you are being put between a rock and a hard place. They grey smile could possibly represent wisdom being a characteristic in the speaker’s grandmother being that she is