Read the excerpt from "digging."

the cold smell of potato mould, the squelch and slap
of soggy peat, the curt cuts of an edge
through living roots awaken in my head.

which statement best describes the effect of the alliteration in this excerpt?

the alliteration makes the poem sound disjointed and choppy. the alliteration disconnects the speaker from the earth. the alliteration creates pleasing and interesting sounds. the alliteration shows that the speaker is a poet.

The alliteration creates pleasing and interesting sounds.

Alliteration is the repetition of sounds at the beginning of a group of words. In the excerpt the examples of alliteration are "squelch and slap/ or soggy peat" and "curt cuts". These lines do not make the poem choppy or disjointed. They help the poem move along. They also have nothing to do with connecting or disconnecting the speaker from the earth. The last option is simply a throw away option. Alliteration never proves or disproves someone as a poet.

"why don't you like me the way i am? " i cried. "i'm not a genius! i can't play the piano, and even if i could, i wouldn't go on tv if you paid me a million dollars! "

explanation:

the conflict between jing-mei and her mother is over jing-mei's piano lessons since her mother wants her to become a prodigy but she does not want to play it any more.