The Way My Mother Speaks Flashcards
Key settings in TWMMS
The train
What does the train represent in TWMMS?
Represents her physical journey as well as how she has become independent and mature without her mother
Key themes in TWMMS
- Change (change as she matures and becomes more independent)
- Loss (loss of her mother’s support and how it pushes her to become more independent)
- An interesting character (contradictions of how she feels about the loss of support from her mother, free but also homesick)
“under the shallows”
Stanza 1
IMAGERY - underwater in the shallow end of a pool, anxiety and panic
Loss and change
“restful shapes moving”
Stanza 1
WORD CHOICE - oxymoron of restful and moving shows uncertainty
Loss and change, interesting character
“browsing for the right sky”
Stanza 2
IMAGERY - sky compares to a feeling of comfort, shows the scale of comfort they are looking for
WORD CHOICE - browsing shows an extensive search
loss, change, interesting character
“Too blue… a cool grey”
Stanza 2
IMAGERY - warmth and sunshine associated with blue, there’s too much of it; cool grey means misery and bad weather (imperfection!)
interesting character, loss, change
“happy…like a child”
Stanza 3
STRUCTURE - seperates the lines to symbolise moving into independence & maturity, embraces their childhood but are seperate
Change
“end of summer”
Stanza 3
IMAGERY - end of summer suggests a change of scenery with leaves and weather changing, missing their mother’s warmth but have moved on
