Read the excerpt from "In Response to Executive Order 9066".Of course I’ll come. I’ve packed my galoshesand three packets of tomato seeds. Denise calls themlove apples. My father says where we’re goingthey won’t grow.The father’s comment in this stanza lends the poem a tone of

The father’s comment that the tomato seeds “won’t grow” where the family is going suggests they will be unable to put down roots or live normally in their new place. This adds a bleak, discouraged feeling to the stanza, so the tone is hopelessness. The detail is more than playful word choice about “love apples”; it hints at the family’s uncertain future.

AI-written and checked against the verified answer.