Honour Killing Imtiaz Dharker Flashcards
Context of the poem Honour Killing:
Written by Imtiaz Dharker.
Explores themes of identity, culture, and freedom.
Addresses the tragic reality of “honour killings” in Lahore India, 1999.
Took place after a women planned to get a divorce with her husband
What is the poem about?
Judging the practice of “honour killings”.
A woman’s struggle for identity and freedom.
The societal pressures that lead to such violence.
“At last I’m taking off this coat, this black coat of a country that I swore for years was mine.”
-Speaker is rejecting her national identity that feels imposed and restrictive symbolising liberation and peace from what she is expected of in society.
-“I’m taking off this veil, this black veil of a faith that made me faithless to myself.”
- Here, the veil represents religious constraints that have led the speaker to do things she wouldn’t have wanted to do like covering up (lost her sense of identity)
-Removing it signifies the reclaiming of personal belief and identity.
“I’m taking off these silks, these lacy things that feed dictator dreams.”
-Metaphor highlights how ‘the silks and lacy things’ cause cultural expectations that empower oppressive systems.
-Shows how women might also dress to please men’s fantasies -> removing this highlights how she would want to be independent, and is going against oppression and control on what women are to do.
“I’m taking off this skin, and then the face, the flesh, the womb.”
-Visceral and graphic imagery of her desire to break away from her familial culture
-Taking off all her beauty and her ‘womb’ which is what biologically makes her a woman.
-Shows how her female identity didn’t make her feel free so she is getting rid of it to feel more at ease and to her own will.
-Caesura emphasises all the different parts of her forced previous identity she is rejecting now.
“Let’s see what I am in here when I squeeze past the easy cage of bone.”
The “easy cage of bone” metaphorically speaks to the physical and societal constraints that confine the speaker.
- Escaping these constraints is a journey to discovering their true self.
“Let’s see what I am out here, making, crafting, plotting at my new geography.” -
-Shows her desire for freedom and to break away from patriarchal and totalitarian culture.
-The verbs ‘plotting, making, crafting’ suggest how women are totally able to be the creators of their own destiny if given the chance.
-Repetition of ‘taking off’ highlights how she is getting rid of all the things that made her feel oppressed as she has a will to become stronger and break free.
Key language points:
Use of first-person narrative to give the victim a voice.
Imagery of liberation and rebirth.
Contrasts between life and death, freedom and oppression.
Imagery about internal conflict and emotional conflict
Key ideas about form and structure
-Free verse to reflect the theme of breaking free from constraints.
-Short, impactful lines to emphasise key moments of realization and liberation.
-The poem’s structure highlights and emphasizes the journey from oppression to freedom.
-One could argue the half-rhymes throughout the poem highlight how uneasy and uncomfortable women feel living under these highly patriarchal communities.
