'living space' - imtiaz dharker

Question 1

describe the context of ‘living space’:

Answer 1

• poet originally born in Pakistan, raised in Scotland, but now lives between the UK and Mumbai.
• contemporary poet.
• tries to raise awareness of how people in other cultures live, using her multicultural perspective.

Question 2

describe the Mumbai slums:

Answer 2

• millions of people from all across India live in these slums, hoping for a better life.
• actual population unknown (around 15 million people). extremely dense population.
• limited access to electricity, clean water, food, education.
• tremendous poverty.

Question 3

analyse the title ‘living space’:

Answer 3

‘living space’ as opposed to ‘home’ suggests a lack of emotional connection or fondness. explicitly not a home.

• however, another interpretation is that depending on the reader’s living space, a Western reader may still associate the phrase with cosiness, warmth, and safety, contrasting to the contents of the poem.
• a space that is alive? suggests energy, disorder, and the ‘hub’ of Mumbai, alluding to the great population density.

Question 4

analyse the first stanza:

Answer 4

imagery:
- ‘nails clutch at open seams’ personification of structure trying to keep itself intact. precariousness, fragility. or inhabitants (finger nails) trying desperately to repair the structure. ‘clutch’ is desperate.

structure:
- enjambment ‘just not enough/straight lines’ reflects the content.
- ‘beams/balance’ alliteration ties phrase together, enjambment pulls it apart. tension in the ‘connectedness’ of the phrase, much like the slums generally.
- ‘whole structure leans dangerously’ line ‘leans’ over the rest of the stanza, much like the irregularity of the slums.

language:
- ‘that is the problem’ declarative sentence, observation. lack of emotion. suggests inability to do anything about it. too far removed/too entrenched?
- ‘miraculous’ precarious structure still standing there is a miracle. people living in the slums are leaning towards the miraculous - yearning for/praying for a better future. many people choose to move to these slums and its opportunities.

Question 5

analyse the second stanza:

Answer 5

language:
- ‘someone’ vague language could relate to the anonymity of the millions of the Mumbai slums.
- ‘squeezed’ suggests the living space barely fits in the ‘rough frame’, implying it doesn’t or shouldn’t belong there. emphasises the resourcefulness of the slums’ inhabitants.

structure:
- tiny stanza has been squeezed between two larger stanzas, similar to the living space in the slums.
- volta. poem topic has shifted slightly.

Question 6

analyse the third stanza:

Answer 6

imagery:
- ‘eggs in a wire basket’ symbolise fragility. just about survives. slums are also delicate and precarious, but continue to exist. new life - symbolises the people moving to the slums for the possibility of a better life.
- ‘slanted universe’. the slums are precarious and fragile. attack on the contemporary world - full of poverty and inequality.

language:
- ‘dared to place’. inhabitants are ‘rebelling’ against the poor conditions they live in, suggesting the people aspire towards something better. could also suggest they won’t let their living conditions get them down, and they won’t be controlled/crushed by them.
- ‘white’ and ‘light’ one of the only rhymes. hold positive, hopeful connotations.
- ‘faith’ adds religious tone to the poem, similar to ‘miraculous’ at the end of the first stanza? suggests that it is people’s faith that keeps them going.

Question 7

describe the mood in the poem:

Answer 7

begins with a slightly critical tone, as it points out how dangerously constructed the slums are, e.g. ‘there are just not enough straight lines’. as the poem progresses, the mood becomes more hopeful, e.g. ‘bright, thin walls of faith’.

Question 8

what are the themes in ‘living space’?

Answer 8

• power (powerlessness of the people living in the slums)
• place (how people live because of / in spite of the conditions they’re placed in).
• mankind