An Unknown Girl

Question 1

The bazaar

Answer 1

• colour imagery “neon” / satin peach” - positive connotations / “studded” intentional decoration. Joyous and beautiful but fades:”colours leave the street / float up in balloons”
• “Unknown girl” - mysterious but significant
• Safety: Banners “canopy me” (metaphor) - security and protection
• Present tense: all happening now. Vivid and memorable.

Question 2

Symbolism of henna

Answer 2

• “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. She has to actively make an effort to identify with this part of her identity. 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.
• “It will fade in a week” - as with identity: nostalgic but cannot hang on to it. Inevitability / certainty

Question 3

Aware of what she will lose:

Answer 3

• “When India appears and reappears/ I’ll lean across a country /with my hands outstretched longing for the unknown girl / in the neon bazaar.
• “Unknown girl” she is longing for in the bazaar is herself.
• Sense of renewal and identity (“appears and reappears”)
  ‘a country’ is vague - across India or her home country
• Almost cyclical - begins and ends focusing on “the unknown girl / in the neon bazaar.”
• “Unknown girl” is ambiguous. Not just the girl doing the henna, but also an unfamiliar aspect of herself.