Living Space

Question 1

Title

Answer 1

‘Living Space’ suggests a lack of emotional connection or fondness as its explicitly not a home, which connotes warmth, safety, affection, and security. By calling these abodes ‘living spaces’ these connotations are removed - they are not warm, safe, or secure.

Question 2

Stanza 1 - 1

Answer 2

‘There are not enough straight lines’ implies that the slums are wonky and poorly or haphazardly constructed. This is reflected in the poems structure as the use of enjambment prevents the sentence from being expressed over a single straight line.

This is further shown as the semantic field of precarity emphasizes how fragile both the existence of the slums but also lives the people who live there can be.

‘That is the problem’ is a declarative statement. The lack of emotion in the sentence makes it an observation rather than an enraged criticism - suggests that the Speaker of the poem is unable to do anything about the problem.

Question 3

Stanza 1 - 2

Answer 3

‘Beams balance’ uses both alliteration and enjambment.
* Alliteration brings the phrase closer together it makes it sonically tighter.
* Enjambment does the opposite and puts space between the words.

This puts an odd tension on the phrase as if it’s hanging together by thread rather than being strongly unified or completely separate. This tension is similar to that experienced by the structures that make up the slums which reflects their poor construction.

‘nails clutch’

Structure has been personified as if its desperately trying to keep itself together as ‘nails’ are grabbing at something to attach themselves to -suggests precarity and fragility of the Mumbai Slums.

‘The whole structure leans dangerously
towards the miraculous.’

the line ‘The whole structure leans dangerously’ discusses the irregularity of the structure of the slums which the line mirrors by being noticeably longer than the rest of the stanza.
‘Miraculous’ suggests that the people living in the slums are leaning towards the miraculous suggesting that they are yearning for a better future - many people choose to move to the slums moving away from rural areas and closer to Mumbai, hoping for a better life.

Question 4

Stanza 2

Answer 4

Into this rough frame,
someone has squeezed
a living space

the vague noun ‘someone’ highlights their lack of identity - relates to the idea of the anonymity of the millions of people living in the Mumbai slums.

‘Squeezed’ suggests that the living space barely fits inside of the ‘rough frame’, implying that it does not, or should not, belong there.
this also highlights the resourcefulness of the people living in those slums they are finding space wherever they can and are using it to their advantage.

this small stanza has been ‘squeezed’ between two much larger stanzas – reflects how the inhabitant has ‘squeezed’ a home into a ‘rough frame’.

Question 5

Stanza 3 - 1

Answer 5

somebody has ‘dared to place these eggs in a wire basket’ in their living space.

verb ‘dared’ suggests that someone is rebelling against the poor living conditions which suggests that the people aspire towards something better - suggests that they won’t let their living conditions get them down and that they will not be controlled or crushed by them.

The image ‘eggs’ symbolizes fragility or new life - an egg is very easy to break and is irreparable once broken yet it lives a precarious existence, and it survives - this is similar to the Mumbai slums which are also delicate and precarious but still carry on existing.

Question 6

Stanza 3 - 2

Answer 6

‘Slanted universe’ may be seen as an attack on the contemporary world - Dharker might be asserting that the universe is wonky as it’s full of inequality and poverty.

the image ‘bright thin walls of faith’ reinforces the idea of the fragility of the existence of people that live in the slums as the slums are not structurally sound and could collapse at any moment – highlights that the people live a fragile existence due to the immense amount of poverty that they live in.

‘faith’ adds a religious tone to the poem which suggests at the very end of the poem that it is the people’s faith that keeps them going and allows them to continue to survive in poor conditions.

Question 7

quotes

Answer 7

Stanza 1 - 1
* There are not enough straight lines’
* semantic field of precarity
* That is the problem
Stanza 1 - 2
* Beams balance’
* nails clutch
* The whole structure leans dangerously towards the miraculous.
Stanza 2
* ‘someone’
* squeezed
* stanza is squeezed
Stanza 3 - 1
* dared to place these eggs in a wire basket’
Stanza 3 - 2
* ‘Slanted universe’
* ‘bright thin walls of faith’