the deliverer - tishani doshi Flashcards
tercet
inequality in society - not an even number
no rhyme scheme/ rhythm
no beat, no reason for this to happen
enjambment
women have no control in society, overpowered by men
caesura
high social expectations women have to conform to
title
‘the’ - detached
giving birth
one place to another
religious
‘the sister is here telling my mother’
‘sister’ - nun, doing good things
not biological - adopted
suggests that there is a void between role of a daughter- creates a tone of resentment portraying the role of the child derived from the mother as a burden/outcast of the family
‘came to collect children’
objectifying - normal occurrence
prosaic statement
alliteration
‘crippled or dark or girls’
unwanted
‘dark’ - less attractive in some cultures - no marriage
euphemism
polysyndetic list
‘found naked in the streets’
vulnerable, no protection from society
animalistic
‘covered in garbage, stuffed in bags, abandoned at their doorstep’
left to die
neglect
abandoned - emotive, intimate - people who owe you
brand new life is treated as rubbish suggests degrading and lack of purpose-materialistic tone
‘one of them was dug up by a dog’
‘one’ suggests that there is many more of them
no identity
alliteration -dead to parents/society
‘bone or wood or something to chew’
polysyndetic list
objectified
emotionless
‘this is the one my mother will bring’
prosaic language
no identity
single stanza - detached from herself - trauma
gives hope
‘the parents wait at the gates’
domestic
allusion to childhood
not real parents - detachment
‘they are american, so they know about ceremony’
adoption is celebrated in the west
criticising real parents
‘they haven’t seen or touched her yet’
supposed to protect
‘they are crying’
emotion for the first time
in america - re humanised
is it happy or sad?
‘strangeness of her empty arms’
no connection
strangers
indicates the rightness of this adoption. - child has been rescued from death, and although it isn’t stated, the implication is that that every child deserves the chance of decent life.
‘this girl grows up on video tapes’
different from india
contrasts her two parents
special moments
‘passed from women to women’
no one holds onto her
passed between women in family - aunts?
‘returns to twilight corners’
spatial and temporal deixis
dark past
can’t escape
metaphor
‘happens in a desolate hut outside village boundaries’
isolated in case it goes ‘wrong’
might be unwanted
boundaries of society
‘mothers go to squeeze out life’
process
cacophonic
effort
‘body slither out from body’
no connection
snakes ‘slither’ - symbol of evil
‘feel for penis or no penis’
privilege of being a male
placing value on gender
prosaic
‘toss the baby into the heap of others’
careless - job
dramatic climax
unwanted emphasis
‘trudge home to lie down for their men again’
angry and tired
reference to sex
constant cycle of giving birth
no moral judgement, either of the mother or her husband who is equally trapped in poverty.
the reader is left to think about the realities.
headlines
patriarchal society turns infanticide into a vicious circle
there is a still a lack of equality in many societies
how societal pressures can lead to awful consequences
the lasting impact of abandonment on a child
male power often forces women through trauma
family connections are not always intimate
fear of male repercussions leads to women acquiescing
