Search for my tongue

Question 1

‘you’ ask me what I mean

Answer 1

direct address
effect of beginning in the middle of a conversation
person being addressed doesn’t understand what it is like to lose your mother tongue

Question 2

the ‘foreign’ tongue

Answer 2

adjective
implies the language is other to her and not innate like her mother language

Question 3

lines 3-5

Answer 3

confrontational tone

Question 4

‘tongue’

Answer 4

her native language and foreign language

Question 5

your mother tongue may ‘rot’

Answer 5

verb
she’s afraid of her mother tongue dying

Question 6

until you had to ‘spit’ it out
i thought I ‘spit’ it out

Answer 6

implies disgust
has no choice but to reject her mother tongue as her second language is ore palatable to others
shows her anger and regret at having to do this to fit into her new culture

Question 7

gujarati stanza

Answer 7

the beauty of the language both visually and aurally
her mother language cannot be repressed - it breaks into the poem
wants the reader to understand what its like to be bilingual and encounter another alphabet and different pronunciation

Question 8

it ‘grows’ back, a stump of a shoot

Answer 8

‘grows’ contrast to ‘rot’
caesura emphasises slow incremental return of her mother tongue

Question 9

it ‘ties’ the other tongue in knots
it ‘pushes’ the other tongue aside

Answer 9

shows how forcefully the mother language is returning - it will not be repressed

Question 10

repetition of ‘opens’ line 3

Answer 10

symbolises the opening of the mother language in her mouth

Question 11

it ‘blossoms’ out of my mouth

Answer 11

metaphor
positive image
feels optimistic about her mother tongue returning to her

Question 12

free verse structure

Answer 12

shows she is unconstrained and free to speak both languages as bother are part of her cultural identity

Question 13

extended metaphor of flowering

Answer 13

she feels as if her identity is constantly changing ; it is not frozen