The Emigree author is Carol Rumens and the speaker left the country as a child. What best describes the speaker's attitude to the homeland?

• A. Purely positive nostalgia
• B. Mixed with anger
• C. Indifferent
• D. Critical of homeland

Answer: (A)

The main idea being tested is how memory shapes the speaker’s attitude to homeland in a poem about exile. The speaker’s voice is steeped in affectionate nostalgia. Even though she left as a child and now lives elsewhere, she clings to a warm, protective image of the country she remembers. The diction and imagery convey comfort, safety, and belonging—describing the homeland in bright, inviting terms and treating memory as a shelter from the present. This makes the stance clearly loving and idealized rather than angry, indifferent, or critical. The other options would require the speaker to express anger, disinterest, or sharp critique, which the poem’s tone and imagery do not support.