NARRATIVE

1. NARRATIVE Sujata Bhatt was born in Gujrat in India where she spoke her mother tongue Gujrati. She later moved to America where she spoke English. She wrote this poem when she began to be afraid that she may lose her first language. These concerns are voiced in the poem when she questions the reader what they would do if they had two tongues in their mouth and was using one more than the other. She feels the neglected tongue would rot until she had to spit it out . In other words she would become incompetent in her mother tongue until she had to stop using it completely. In the second half of the poem she feels she has spat it out (forgotten her mother tongue) until she is reassured at night when she dreams in her mother tongue. This part is written in Gujrati and then translated in English which again is further proof that she has not lost her mother tongue and may never do. This is expressed in the form of an extended metaphor of a plant. The plant which represents her mother tongue grows from a shoot and becomes strong. It defeats the other tongue, the foreign tongue.

2. from Search For My Tongue (munayhutoo kay aakhee jeebh aakhee bhasha) (may thoonky nakhi chay) (parantoo rattray svupnama mari bhasha parchi aavay chay) (foolnee jaim mari bhasha mari jeebh) (modhama kheelay chay) (fullnee jaim mari bhasha mari jeebh) (modhama pakay chay) it grows back, a stump of a shoot grows longer, grows moist, grows strong veins, it ties the other tongue in knots, the bud opens, the bud opens in my mouth, it pushes the other tongue aside. Everytime I think I have forgotten, I think I’ve lost the mother tongue, it blossoms out my mouth. Sujata Bhatt. You ask me what I mean by saying I have lost my tongue. I ask you, what would you do if you had two tongues in your mouth, and lost the first one, the mother tongue, and could not really know the other, the foreign tongue. You could not use them both together even if you thought that way. And if you lived in a place you had to speak a foreign tongue, your mother tongue would rot, rot and die in your mouth until you had to spit it out but over night while I dream,

3. THEMES • Language • Identity Crisis • Fear • Confusion • Guilt • Conflict

4. QUESTIONS • What problem does the speaker face? • Why does she feel fear and guilt? • How is she reassured at the end? • Write true or false for the following and support your answers with evidence from the text. The poet feels: • a- that having two languages is a problem • b- frustrated that she can’t lose the mother tongue • c- that her mother tongue is something deep rooted within her • d- she hates her ‘second’ language and wishes she could just use her mother tongue • e- unhappy about not using her mother tongue as much as her second language.

5. MESSAGE The poem addresses the problem of living in a foreign country and speaking a foreign language. Sujata explains how it it is like to think and speak in two languages. Language to her is an important link to her, family, country, childhood and the deepest layer of her identity. At times she is overwhelmed by a sense of fear and guilt of losing her mother tongue and thus losing a part of herself. However, she is reassured that as long as her identity remains important to her, she will never lose her language.