The Deliverer - Tishani Doshi

key themes

  1. motherhood

  2. gender

  3. discrimination

  4. poverty

  5. adoption

key quotes

‘how she came to collect children because they were crippled or dark or girls.’

Derogatory tones. being a girl makes you disabled. stands out

‘where mothers go to squeeze out life, watch body slither out from body’

snake like. no love or emotional attachment. zoomorphic verb, the state that mothers are in due to pressure of having a perfect son seems animalistic, they are treated like animals. 'watch body' mother is so disconnected they are having an out of body experience - pushing themselves out of this cycle? can't connect with their baby'?

‘trudge home to lie down for their men again.’

evidence of control and abuse. trapped by cultural and economic pressures. having a child is manufacturing.

what to include in an essay

  • the poem is cyclical - starts and ends with the sheer amount of babies ‘disposed’

  • reinforcing of the alienation of the girls

  • single syllable words thud through the poem

  • suggests uncertainty of emotion

  • could be the story of a rejected indian girl