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Line 31
He hopes another person would help his own mother if she needed it.
The boy connects his action to a simple moral rule: give others the help you would want your own loved ones to receive.
Empathy and the Golden Rule.
Thoughtful and sincere.
The reader becomes reflective.
“hand” rhymes with “understand” in the next line.
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Answer: “Lend a hand” means to help someone. The boy hopes that another person would help his mother if she were ever old and in need.
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Answer: The boy connects his action to a simple moral rule: give others the help you would want your own loved ones to receive. The familiar phrase keeps the moral lesson simple and practical. The line also develops the idea of Empathy and the Golden Rule .
Line 32
He explains to his friends that he is imagining his own mother in the same situation.
The line invites the other boys—and the reader—to make the same emotional connection he has made.
Teaching empathy by imagining another person’s situation.
Earnest and friendly.
The reader is invited to agree with him.
“understand” completes the rhyme with “hand”.
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Answer: He wants his friends to understand why he helped: he imagines that his own mother might one day need the kindness of a stranger.
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Answer: The line invites the other boys—and the reader—to make the same emotional connection he has made. It turns his private thought into a lesson shared with his friends. The line also develops the idea of Teaching empathy by imagining another person’s situation .
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Answer: The boy imagines his own mother needing help and hopes another person would assist her. By placing someone he loves in the old woman’s situation, he understands why helping matters.
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Answer: The boy hopes someone would help his mother in the same way.
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Answer: Stanza 16 is important because it develops the boy’s empathy as he connects the stranger with his own mother. The boy hopes someone would help his mother in the same way. This helps the poem move naturally towards its larger message of empathy, kindness and seeing the human value in another person.
