living space

Question 1

overview

Answer 1

Living Space by Imtiaz Dharker describes the slums in Mumbai and the overcrowded conditions that people live in. She is a modern poet so she is describing current issues. At first, she focuses on describing the buildings in the slums, specifically the buildings on the verge of collapse, which helps to suggest how survival isn’t easy for people who live there. Although the slums are terrible, the poem is hopeful which is shown through the metaphor of the eggs in the basket. This is because the people Dharker describes have faith in their religion which makes them strong and resilient as they are surviving in such terrible conditions. Therefore, the overall mood is positive.

Question 2

beginning

Answer 2

• Dharker starts by describing the buildings in the slums. The ‘beams balance crookedly.’ This suggests how the building isn’t safe as it is falling down due to not being built well. This suggests how the people living here have to make do with the little resources that they have because they are poor.
• She describes how ‘nails clutch at open seams.’ This suggests how the nails are the only thing keeping the structures together. The nails are personified to be ‘clutching’ which suggests how the nails are desperate to hold everything together. This suggests the people in these slums are trying to hold onto their lives.

Question 3

middle

Answer 3

• Then, she describes the slums as a ‘rough frame.’ This suggest how people aren’t meant to be living there because it’s not safe. The word ‘rough’ emphasises how unplanned the slums were and how rushed the building of it would be. This helps to demonstrate how disorganised and chaotic their lives are as they cannot afford to plan ahead. Despite this, it suggests how resilient the people living there are as they are still continuing to live in such poor conditions.

Question 4

end

Answer 4

• Dharker then describes eggs in a basket. She describes them to be ‘fragile’. This suggests how the eggs are easily broken because they are described as ‘fragile.’ This could represent the lives of the people living in the slums because their lives can also be easily broken like the eggs.
• Finally, she says that the eggs are ‘bright, thin walls of faith.’ The eggs are described as ‘thin’ which emphasises how fragile they are. The eggs could be a metaphor for religion and how it can be hard to keep faith when you are struggling. It suggests how religion is a symbol of hope for the people living in the slums. By the end of the poem the eggs are unbroken which suggests how their faith in religion is undamaged.

Question 5

form & structure

Answer 5

• Uses lots of enjambment to show how the buildings and the eggs are hanging precariously over the edge. This helps to emphasise how nothing is safe or secure in the slums.
• The second stanza only has three lines, compared to the other lines, which suggests how everything in the slums is squeezed into a tight space.