An Unknown Girl

Question 1

The bazaar

Answer 1

colour imagery “neon” / satin peach”
positive connotations /
“Studded with neon” : intentional decoration.
‘Studded’ : (metaphor)
‘Neon’ - brightness, colour, bright and alluring
Joyous and beautiful but fades:
“colours leave the street / float up in balloons”
The short term beauty
Links to ‘it will fade in a week’
the ‘will’ shows certainty, inevitability
The set time period of a ‘week’ - only adds to the inevitability/; awareness of how temporary the mark left on her (by the Henna and India itself) is

Question 2

Cyclical structure of the poem + present tense reinforces the longing of the writer

Answer 2

“Unknown girl” -
mysterious but significant
Could be viewed as a representation of the culture that the writer is eager to hold onto
Mirror the writer’s separate identity
‘Longing for the unknown girl in the neon bazaar’ - the girl who is hennaing her is ‘unknown’, but towards the end, this may also refer to the persona herself - who she is in the bazaar / in India is a person otherwise unknown / unfamiliar
Safety: Banners “canopy me” (metaphor) - security and protection, the writer feels at home with her culture
Present tense: all happening now.
Vivid and memorable

Question 3

2) Symbolism of henna

Answer 3

“I have new brown veins”
Short declarative sentence
‘New’ - she has now rediscovered her culture and heritage, connecting with it for a the first time + connecting with it for the first time
Brown veins -, metaphor of rediscovering her culture: the henna and culture are a part of her
“The peacock spreads its lines across my palm” - beautiful / powerful. National bird of India, metaphor of beauty, metaphor of national identity, the identity is asserting itself into her.
“I am clinging to these firm peacock lines like people who cling to the sides of a train”
simile alluding to the indian train system

“clinging”, sounds emotive and desperate - these people are clinging for their lives.
She has to actively make an effort to identify with this part of her identity (to “cling”). Also like the people on the train, if they stop clinging and let go, they die, just like if she stops actively making an effort to identify with this part, she will inevitably lose this aspect of her life.

‘Clinging to these firm peacock lines’
abstract (the lines are non tangible)
Clinging to what the peacock represent - her culture (as it’s the national bird of India) : the active reassurance of her heritage in ‘peacock spreads its line across my palm’. Explore repeated image of
the peacock.

(Contrast to Western Culture)

“Dummies in shop fronts / tilt and stare / with their Western perms / banners for Miss India 1993) -> contrast between Indian + western culture
Intentional word choice “dummies” = highlights the writer’s (persona) opinion of the idiocy of western culture - artifice “perms”
“Miss India” - beauty pageant, created in USA, Western ideals of beauty
“Tilt and stare” = personification, judgemental