Originally Flashcards
“All childhood is an emigration”
“All childhood is an emigration”
to emigrate is to move to a new place and face different experiences, just like childhood. People constantly must change as they grow and develop
“I remember my tongue, shedding its skin like a snake”
A snake sheds its skin in order to adapt and change and this is precisely what the speaker is doing, adapting in order to fit in. The image is particularly effective as they have prominent tongue. Sibilance used here further compounds the snake image like hissing, Snakes are usually a symbol of mistrust within human does she not feel fully comfortable or guilty about this change?
“My parent’s anxiety stirred like a loose tooth”
just as a loose tooth is irritating, niggles a person and is hard to ignore, so too the parents’ anxiety is constantly worrying the persona. Image also links neatly to theme of growing up.
“Seeing your brother swallow a slug feel only a skelf of shame”
-Sibilance highlights this phrase. in the previous stanza, ‘big boys’ were eating worms. Now by way of initiation, the brother seems to have to eat a slug almost like a pill in order to show he is now a part of community.
-Just as a skelf is a small, niggling pain, so too is her shame; tiny but makes her uncomfortable. ‘Skelf’ is also a Scottish word, showing that she still retains part of her Scottish roots. It remains inside her.
“my brothers cried, one of them bawling”
Onomatopoeia used to make us hear the distress shown by children. Again, this emphasises how unhappy the brothers were to be moving.
“Your accent wrong”
Dramatic ‘wrong’ shows just how out of place speaker is. They feel they do not belong here.
“And i hesitate”
Final line and short dramatic sentence is used to place emphasis on the idea that she is still unsure of her answer and of her identity. Clear tone of uncertainty.
“But then you forget, or don’t recall, or change,”
“But then you forget, or don’t recall, or change,”
Stanza opens with ‘but’ signalling change in perspective. Speaker has begun to blend in / change to fit in. Use of commas in this line create a sense of hesitation / uncertainty.
