y11 fill in the gaps exercise 2.doc

How does Sujata Bhatt show that identity is important in ‘from Search For My Tongue’ (page 12)? Compare the methods she uses with the methods another poet uses to show that identity is important in one other poem.

 

 

 

In ‘Search For My Tongue’, Sujata Bhatt explores the issue of identity by .......................................................... Her approach is similar to that used by ............ in the poem ................................. where identity is represented by ...........................

 

Both poems highlight the cultural conflict faced by someone who moves to a new country. In ‘Search For My Tongue’, the character represented in the poem has moved to Europe from ..................... She speaks the local language by day, but at night dreams in ..................... This shows that ………………………………….. In contrast, in ‘Presents from my Aunts in Pakistan’, Moniza Alvi uses clothes as a …………………………. for the clash between two cultures. There is a big difference between the image of the ‘peacock blue’ salwar kameez – the image which starts the poem, and the point half-way through, where the ‘………………………………………………………..’. The character in the poem sounds deflated at that point, where all her memories of Pakistan are vibrant and lively, contrasting with the drab idea of ‘cardigans from Marks and Spencers’.

 

Alvi and Bhatt both use images and poetic devices that reinforce the contrast between ………………….…… and …………………... In ‘Presents from my Aunts’, Alvi focuses on clothes and jewellery, ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….  In ‘Search For Tongue’, Bhatt strikes a more ………… tone than in ‘Presents from my Aunts’. She shows her character resenting the culture of the new country more than Alvi does: ‘………………………………………………………’. This may be because of the age of the voice in the poems: Bhatt shows us someone who is of working age; Alvi uses a teenage schoolgirl, so their view of the world is somewhat different.

 

 

This contrast between the culture of the country of birth and the country the person has moved to is also used in ‘……………………………..’, where the difference between the new language and old language is emphasised even more. Early on the poem, the character in the poem speaks of how her ‘’, but later in the poem, after dreaming in Gujerati, the imagery has changed – and the words now used include ‘……..’, ‘………..’, ‘……………’, suggesting a rebirth of the mother language, and of cultural identity. The idea of drifting away with your memories to your original country is also used by Alvi in ‘Presents from my Aunts in Pakistan’, where we get glimpses of the original culture: ‘my aunts in shaded rooms’, ‘staring through fretwork’ – images that ……………………………….

 

Overall, the two poems suggest that…………………………………………………. They include some very effective imagery, to show us how difficult it can be to adapt to…………