Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her Head – Quiz
Test your knowledge of Warsan Shire’s Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her Head with this 20‑question quiz. Questions span the full collection: 8 plot/sequence, 5 character motivation, 4 theme/symbol, and 3 synthesis items. Mix of multiple‑choice and short‑answer formats. After the questions you’ll find a complete answer key with brief explanations. Good luck!
For more resources, see the book’s main page, the questions and answers section, and the ending explained.
Questions
1. (Plot/Sequence – Multiple Choice)
In “Extreme Girlhood,” what does the speaker claim at the end of the poem?
A. She escaped the home alive, raised by voices in her head.
B. Her mother rescued her from danger.
C. She ran away to a refugee camp.
D. She died and was reborn as a new person.
2. (Plot/Sequence – Short Answer)
In “Home,” what are three specific horrors the speaker lists that refugees face?
3. (Plot/Sequence – Multiple Choice)
In “Drowning in Dawson’s Creek,” after the speaker drowns, how does the coroner misidentify her body?
A. As Caucasian.
B. As male.
C. As a missing child from a different state.
D. As a victim of a different crime.
4. (Plot/Sequence – Short Answer)
In “Photographs of Hooyo (Harlesden, 1990–2000),” what is Hooyo doing in the 2000 snapshot?
5. (Plot/Sequence – Multiple Choice)
In “Backwards,” what does the speaker imagine doing to undo family trauma?
A. Rewriting the past so that love overwhelms everything.
B. Moving the family to a peaceful country.
C. Erasing painful memories from everyone’s mind.
D. Repeating the traumatic events correctly this time.
6. (Plot/Sequence – Multiple Choice)
In “Bless This House,” what does the speaker’s mother say about women’s locked rooms?
A. Men try to open them with keys or hammers.
B. They should never be opened.
C. They hold treasures that only the woman can unlock.
D. They are imaginary and only exist in stories.
7. (Plot/Sequence – Short Answer)
In “Earth to Yosra,” what specific food does the speaker remember eating with Yosra?
8. (Plot/Sequence – Multiple Choice)
In “Barwaaqo,” which sensory details surround Hooyo in the opening?
A. Guava, oud, turmeric, mango.
B. Snow, ice, frost, bare trees.
C. City bus fumes, traffic, neon lights.
D. Hospital sheets, antiseptic, beeping machines.
9. (Character Motivation – Multiple Choice)
In “Bless Maymuun’s Mind,” why does Maymuun hide her auditory hallucinations and compulsive hand‑washing from her doctor?
A. She fears being judged or medicated further.
B. She believes the doctor cannot help.
C. She wants to protect her family from worry.
D. She thinks the symptoms are normal.
10. (Character Motivation – Multiple Choice)
In “Bless the Ghost,” why does the mother never look at the ghost she carries?
A. She is thankful for its warmth but cannot face it.
B. She believes it will vanish if she looks.
C. She is terrified of what it might do.
D. She cannot see it because it is transparent.
11. (Character Motivation – Multiple Choice)
What motivates the Qumayo women in “Bless the Qumayo” to shame young girls?
A. Their own sorrowful, love‑starved lives.
B. Genuine concern for the girls’ futures.
C. Strict religious devotion.
D. Anger at their own mothers.
12. (Character Motivation – Short Answer)
In “Bless the Sharmuto,” why does the speaker’s sister wash herself at 4 a.m.?
13. (Character Motivation – Multiple Choice)
In “Angela Bassett Burning It All Down,” what does the speaker long for her mother to do?
A. Explode with rage and “burn it all down.”
B. Leave the family and start a new life.
C. Seek fame and recognition.
D. Learn to cook better meals.
14. (Theme/Symbol – Multiple Choice)
In “Bless the Gun Tossed into a River,” the gun thrown into a river mainly symbolizes
A. the brother’s lost innocence and trauma.
B. the speaker’s desire for revenge.
C. political revolution.
D. the mother’s suppressed anger.
15. (Theme/Symbol – Multiple Choice)
In “Extreme Girlhood,” the “caul of dissatisfaction” represents
A. being doomed to never feel good enough from birth.
B. a protective veil that shields the child.
C. a hereditary illness passed down the family.
D. a lucky charm for survival.
16. (Theme/Symbol – Multiple Choice)
In “Bless the Moon,” the moon is blamed for
A. floods, menstruation, and men who are wolves.
B. only the ocean tides.
C. all natural disasters.
D. the speaker’s personal loneliness.
17. (Theme/Symbol – Multiple Choice)
In “Absolutely Fabulous,” what does the woman’s silk scarf become at night?
A. A noose.
B. A headwrap.
C. A prayer rug.
D. A bandage.
18. (Synthesis – Short Answer)
Throughout the collection, Warsan Shire blesses many figures and objects (the bulimic, the ghost, the Qumayo, the gun, etc.). What is the overall effect of this repeated act of blessing?
19. (Synthesis – Multiple Choice)
In both “Hooyo Full of Grace” and “Saint Hooyo,” how is the mother’s sainthood redefined?
A. She is a saint of absence and silent vigilance.
B. She is a perfect, traditional mother.
C. She is a figure of pure failure.
D. She is a mythical, all‑powerful warrior.
20. (Synthesis – Short Answer)
In “Bless This House” and “Filial Cannibalism,” what does the body metaphor allow the poems to critique about patriarchal control?
Answer Key
1. A – The speaker declares she “made it out of your home alive, raised by the voices in my head,” emphasizing survival and internal guidance.
2. Acceptable answers include any three from: children in boats, people hidden in trucks, beatings, rape, drowning, starvation, being shot at borders.
3. A – The coroner labels her Caucasian, a real case referenced in the poem’s endnote. This misidentification mirrors her earlier desire to assimilate.
4. She lies in bed examining undeveloped film negatives, haunted by the dead and the ongoing war in Somalia.
5. A – The speaker imagines reversing time so that love overwhelms everything, using the poem’s palindromic structure to enact healing.
6. A – The mother says all women have locked rooms inside them, which men try to open with keys or hammers.
7. Vinegar‑soaked chips (or chips with vinegar).
8. A – Hooyo is described with guava, oud, turmeric, and mango, creating a sensory, peaceful image.
9. A – She already hides her compulsive hand‑washing and worries about stigma; the voices and raw hands would invite more scrutiny.
10. A – The poem says she “never meets its gaze, thankful it keeps her warm”; facing it would mean confronting inherited grief.
11. A – The speaker acknowledges the Qumayo lead sorrowful, love‑starved lives, which fuels their gossip and enforcement of honor codes.
12. To hide signs of sexual activity from her family, avoiding shame and punishment.
13. A – The speaker has watched her mother for years, silently willing her to “burn it all down” – to explode instead of quietly enduring.
14. A – The gun tossed in a river becomes a metaphor for the brother’s violence, loss, and the distorted “freedom” of trauma; the poem references André Breton’s “Freedom of Love.”
15. A – The caul (a membrane present at birth) is described as “dissatisfaction,” marking the girl as “not good enough” from the start.
16. A – The speaker apologizes on behalf of humanity for blaming the moon for floods, menstruation, and men who are wolves (predatory men).
17. A – The scarf becomes a noose, connecting trauma, memory, and the edge between survival and self‑destruction.
18. The repeated blessing reclaims and honors suffering, transforming shame and pain into dignity and resilience. It also creates a ritual of solidarity.
19. A – “Hooyo Full of Grace” calls her “Goddess of absence” and “Our Lady of Leaving Children With Strangers”; “Saint Hooyo” depicts her as the patron of children with different passports, defined by silent vigilance.
20. “Bless This House” uses the body as a house with locked rooms and trapdoors to show violation; “Filial Cannibalism” uses secretion and consumption to show how shame is passed from mother to daughter. Together they critique how patriarchy controls female bodies and perpetuates trauma.
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