Originality Flashcards
WE came from OUR OWN country in a RED ROOM which FELL through the FIELDS, OUR MOTHER SINGING OUR FATHER’S NAME to the turn of the WHEELS.
(N.V) - We/our - her autobiographcal experience/suggests shared experience
our own - assonance - highlights sense of belonging
w/c - red room - has connotations of dannger, anger, suggests the unknown of her situation. Also a very childlike description of a car.
imagery (personification) - fell - suggests speed and lack of control
internal rhyme - fields and wheels - adds to the rhythm of movement
S.S (emjambment) - our mother singing our father’s name - creates suprise. We don’t expect this to be what she is singing. Ambigious. Is she praying? Is father there? Is he missing?
My brothers CRIED, ONE OF THEM BAWLING, HOME, Home, AS THE MILES RUSHED BACK TO THE CITY, THE STREET, THE HOUSE, THE VACANT ROOMS WHERE WE DIDN’T LIVE ANY MORE.
Contrast - cried, one of them bawling - contrast with the mother singing, emphasising how upset they are.
italics - Home - used to indicate words spoken, and emphasising her feeling of lost.
w/c - as the miles rushed back to the city - sense of speed. Also a strange description. suggests looking backwards, maybe out of a car window.
S.S (list) - the street, the house. the vacant rooms where we didn’t live any more. - suggests loss and sadness. A sense of realisation of everything she is leaving behind.
w/c - where we didn’t live any more - creates a sense of nostalgia/loss.
I stared at the eyes of a BLIND TOY, HOLDING ITS PAW.
symbolic - blind toy - they are heading into the unknown.
imagery (personification) - just as a blind person can’t see where they are going and live in darkness, so too does the toy cannot offer insight into what lies ahead. This suggests that she seeks comfort/is a child, and that the future is uncertain.
w/c - holding its paw - conveys the insecurity and apprehension of a young child. She is seeking comfort. Her toy is now one of the only constants in her life.
ALL CHILDHOOD IS AN EMIGRATION. Some are slow, leaving you standing, resigned, up an avenue where no one you know stays. Others are sudden. YOUR ACCENT WRONG.
S.S - all childhood is an emigration - signals an older persona reflecting on the nature of childhood. Metaphor - journey, growing up, different stages of life.
S.S - relates to the idea of slow change (long, drawn out sentence)
S.S - Your accent wrong - short, abrupt sentences highlight the sudden suprise of these changes.
w/c - wrong - she does not fit in/feels isolated
Corners, which SEEM FAMILIAR leading to UNIMAGINED PEBBLE-DASHED ESTATES, BIG BOYS EATING WORMS AND SHOUTING WORDS YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND
w/c - seem familiar - suggests a sense of confusion/uncertainty
S.S (list) - unimagined pebble-dashed estates, big boys eating worms and shouting words you don’t understand - draws attention to the number of unpleasant scenes she witnessed; making her discomfort in her new environment.
w/c - eating worms and shouting words you don’t understand - gives negative impression of boys in her new area - they seem aggressive.
metaphor - big boys eating worms - for them behaving strangely. Sense of disgust.
w/c - shouting - communication is difficult due to different accents and use of words.
MY PARENTS’ ANXIETY STIRRED LIKE A LOOSE TOOTH IN MY HEAD. I WANT OUR OWN COUNTRY, I said.
simile - my parents’ anxiety stirred like a loose tooth in my head - conveys idea of something irratating - always there and you can’t ignore it. Whole family is affected by the move. She is also aware of her parents’ concern.
w/c - Always at the back of her mind/worried for her parents
italics - I want our own country - indicate direct speech emphasises longing to return to Scotland and sense of belonging being important.
BUT then you FORGET, OR DON’T RECALL, OR CHANGE, and, seeing your BROTHER SWALLOW A SLUG, feel only a SKELF of shame.
S.S - But - stanza begins with a conjuction, which indicates change and also links back to her plea for her own country.
S.S (list) - forget, or don’t recall, or change - suggests her own transformation. Details of her ‘home’ beggining to fade.
w/c - brother swallow a slug - echoes the big boys eating worms in previous stanza. Suggests that they now fit in well.
w/c - skelf - scottish dialect: small splinter that gets under skin. She no longer feels as much embarassment; shows the change in her.
I remember MY TONGUE SHEDDING IT’S SKIN LIKE A SNAKE, my voice in the classroom SOUNDING JUST LIKE THE REST.
simile - my tongue shedding it’s skin like a snake - conveys change. Compares her loss to a snake losing skin as it grows. Snake suggests deception - betraying her previous identity and becoming like the rest.
alliteration - s - is angry at herself for changing
w/c - snake - feels like she has betrayed her former self by changing
sounding just like the rest - feels ashamed/disappointed as she has lost her Scottishness as she now speaks like everyone else. She now fits in.
DO I ONLY THINK I LOST A RIVER, SPEECH, SENSE OF FIRST PLACE AND THE RIGHT PLACE? Now, Where do you come from? strangers ask. ORIGINALLY? AND I HESITATE.
S.S (rhetorical question) - she questions what makes up her identity, but can’t decide.
S.S (list) - a river, speech, sense of first place and the right place - lists some of the things she left behind and wonders if these things influence who she is now.
S.S - Originally? - second question in italics is her response. She questions her own sense of identity, further reinforcing her uncertainty of where she belongs.
S.S (short sentence) - hestitation reveals that she has mixed feelings about her true origins. She wasn’t able to adapt as well as her brothers, but feels included now.
