Living Space

Question 1

Author

Answer 1

Imtiaz Dharker

Question 2

Context

Answer 2

• contemporary poet who was born in Pakistan and grew up in Scotland
• Poem focuses of Dharavi(Asia’s second largest slum in Mumbai)
• Over a million people are densely packed together in a. 2 square km area.
• Up to 10 people live in a single room, with 80 people sharing a public toilet

Question 3

Why’s

Answer 3

• Dharker strives to expose the harsh and inhospitable living conditions endured by the inhabitants of the Mumbai slum of Dharavi, evoking a sense of empathy as well as guilt from her more fortunate western readership
• Dharker celebrates the human capacity to endure and adapt to difficult situations, focussing on the power of hope and faith. She renegotiates our view of those living in slums as being worthy of awe and admiration in addition to pity.

Question 4

‘Living space”

Answer 4

suggests a lack of emotional connection of fondness. Not a home

Question 5

‘not enough straight lines’

Answer 5

Slums are haphazardly constructed.

Enjambment reflects this (structure)

Question 6

Beams balance

Answer 6

Alliteration brings phrase closer together whereas enjambment tears it apart. There is tension in the connectedness of the phrase, like the slums.

Question 7

Nails clutch at open seams

Answer 7

• Personification of structure trying to keep itself intact- suggests fragility
• Could show inhabitants trying to desperately repair the structure

Question 8

The whole structure leans dangerously

Answer 8

Line leans over the rest of the stanza- like the irregularity of the slums

Question 9

Miraculous

Answer 9

Could be saying the structure still standing there is a miracle.
its inhabitants are desperate for a better future

Question 10

Semantic field of precarity

Answer 10

emphasise fragility of slums and the people that live there.

Question 11

rough frame

Answer 11

Could suggest lack of resources

Question 12

Someone

Answer 12

Vague language could relate to the anonymous millions of the Mumbai slums
Could also show how none of their voices are heard, they are disregarded

Question 13

Squeezed

Answer 13

The living space barely fits inside the ‘rough frame’ implying it doesn’t belong there.

Question 14

Second stanza

Answer 14

Tiny stanza has been squeezed between 2 larger stanzas, similar to the living space in the slums

Question 15

dared to place

Answer 15

The slum inhabitants rebel against the poor conditions they live in suggesting a hope and aspiration for something better.

Question 16

eggs in a wire basket

Answer 16

Eggs symbolise fragility and new life.Easy to break and irreparable once broken.
juxtaposition with wire basket

Question 17

white, light

Answer 17

Both words have connotations of hope

Question 18

Slanted universe

Answer 18

evokes slums and criticises inequality in society. Also physically slanted

Question 19

the bright, thin walls of faith

Answer 19

reinforces the fragility of the slum inhabitants existence.

Question 20

Faith

Answer 20

religious tone, it’s the peoples beliefs that keep them going