living space

Question 1

author

Answer 1

imtiaz dharker

Question 2

context

Answer 2

• born in pakistan, grew up in scotland
• about the slums of mumbai
• draws on her multicultural experience
• themes of identity

Question 3

paragraph 1

Answer 3

• inadequate, precarious, surface level view
• ‘just not enough’ - abrupt tone, negative, focuses on what it lacks, succinct, emphatic
• ‘clutch at open seams’ - personification, desperation and urgency, could give out at any moment yet searching for opportunity
• enjambment between ‘beams’ and ‘balance’, instability, plosive sounds
• shortest stanza squeezed in between the others, mirrors the nature and way of living in mumbai

Question 4

paragraph 2

Answer 4

• faith, hope
• ‘dangerously’ ‘miraculous - juxtaposing ideas, yet introduces a sense of hope and belief in some sort of deity
• ‘eggs in a wire basket’ - new life, fragility of their lives, close to getting out
• ‘gathering the light into themselves’ - as if light is tangible, amplifies that sense of hope as if they can touch it
• ‘thin walls of faith’ - despite it being ‘thin’ and perhaps insufficient, it is still present, hopeful ending

Question 5

structure

Answer 5

• enjambment - shows how the slum structures all lean over each other
• second half is more positive
• one long thin stanza, varying line lengths, instability of the slums