The Emigree

Question 1

‘Memory of it is sunlight clear/I am branded by an impression of sunlight’

Answer 1

Narrator thinks of her home country as a place of

happiness (‘sunlight’) despite the terrible things that are happening there now.

Question 2

‘It may now be a lie, banned by the state…’

Answer 2

Home country is a dictatorship banning people from speaking their own language. Suggests the horror of
conflict that the narrator has escaped.

Question 3

‘They mutter death, and my shadow falls as evidence of sunlight.’

Answer 3

Sinister image – ‘they’ are a faceless enemy who are

threatening narrator. However there is still ‘sunlight’ – hope.

Question 4

Structure

Answer 4

No rhyme – occasionally there is a sense of rhythm but this is never regular or strong. Could reflect speaker’s mind – her thoughts about her home country are complicated and hard to understand or predict.

Question 5

Idea/Perspective/Context (AO3)

Answer 5

Discusses how conflict displaces people (refugees) and the difficulty they face in letting go of their old country.

Question 6

Links

Answer 6

War Photographer
Checking Out Me History
London