Search for my Tongue - Sujata Bhatt

Who is the speaker?

A bilingual person who fears forgetting their 'mother tongue'

What is the form?

- Free verse (sense of freedom as the languages intertwine)

'lost my tongue'

METAPHOR

- Tongue represents her language/identity

- Feels isolated and unable to speak

'mother tongue'

- Her language is part of who she is

- Sense of belonging

'You could not use them both together'

MODAL VERB

- She is forced to pick

ENJAMBMENT

- At end of line illustrates conflict between her mother/foreign tongue

'rot and die in your mouth'

MONOSYLLABIC, DIRECT ADDRESS

- Sense of discomfort

- Graphic imagery of death/decay

- Feeling of guilt and ownership

'spit it out'

REPETITION

- Constant struggle

MONOSYLLABIC

- Sense of discomfort as her language is portrayed negatively

Gujurati dialect

- Attempts to elicit sympathy from audience by helping them understand her struggle

- Shows her everyday experience

'grows back, a stump of a shoot'

REPETITION

- Of shows continuous strength

- 'shoot' suggests beginning of discovery/acceptance

'ties the other tongue in knots'

IDIOMATIC LANG.

- Shows how her roots are more powerful

- Constant battle

'Everytime'

- Reflects how it repeatedly comes back, is forever a part of her

- Cannot keep denying it

'blossoms out of my mouth'

JUXTAPOSITION

- Between earlier views on her mother tongue and the positive imagery used now

- Reflects the journey she has taken to accept who she is