quotes and annotations

“Here, the gods roam freely,

disguised as snakes or monkeys”

• ‘here’ → (preposition)transports the reader to india, makes them feel as if they belong

• ‘gods’ → (noun) plural, allows different beliefs

• ‘roam freely’ → (phrase) contrasts to christianity, christianity can be seen as a strict society, british empire entered India, hinduism was shoved to the side

• ‘disguised’ → (adjective) shows that aspects of india are still prominent, you just need to look to find them

• ‘snakes’ → (noun) contrast, snakes are seen as evil in christianity (the serpent is identified as satan in the bible) but are seen as a symbol of hinduism in India

“it is a sin to shove a book aside

with your foot

a sin to slam books down

hard on a table

a sin to toss one carelessly

across a room.”

• ‘shove a book aside’ → (phrase) symbolic to hinduism being shoved to the side by christianity when the british empire entered India

• ‘foot’ (noun) → to kick, painful. Links to the 1st quote ‘disguised’. Gods can be disguised in the holy book, they don’t deserve to be kicked around.

• ‘a sin’ (noun) → repeated to show importance. Sin is a religious word to do with wrong doing.

• ‘book’ → (noun) made out of trees, relates to nature. Relates to hinduism’s holy books, The Vedas. Shows that knowledge is a religion.

“you must learn how to turn the pages gently”

• ‘You’ → (pronoun) direct address, helping to get the point across

• ‘must’ → (imperative) shows the power and how much meaning and thought the writer has put into the poem

• ‘learn’ (verb) → understanding of power (links to ‘must’) and knowledge. Links to education which can be seen as a painful thing- highlights painful connotations which links to the pain of christianity taking over hinduism

• ‘pages gently’ → (phrase) pages links to books and books are full of knowledge. we should respect knowledge and treat it with care. India respects wisdom and knowledge but christianity doesn’t, they shoved hinduism aside.

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