“Search For My Tongue”

“Search For My Tongue” Themes (ideas) in the poem

Summary of Poem • In “Search For My Tongue” the writer explains the problems caused by knowing two languages, English and Gujarati, but only being able to speak one in public.

How to read Powerpoint • The following slides will contain: • Point • Evidence • Explanation (You should use all 3 when you write about these poems)

Conflict • The poem deals with conflict since the poet feels, at first, that there is a battle between Gujarati and English in her life. • “two tongues inside your mouth.” • This image is powerful since it shows how both these languages are so much part of who she is, they are like parts of her body, yet there is not room for both.

Conflict • The conflict between these languages becomes bitter and ugly because it is a battle for survival. • “your mother tongue would rot,/rot and die in your mouth/until you had to spit it out.” • A quotation that shows how violent and painful the struggle between the languages has become. Almost the language of a horror film.

Loss • The poet feels that by losing the chance to speak Gujarati, she is losing something vital to her. • “One tongue rots, rots and dies” • Because the image is disturbing, even disgusting, making you think of corpses, it helps get across how sad and wrong it feels to lose a language.

Identity • Sujata Bhatt shows that the language you speak cannot be separated from who you are. • “You could not use them both together/even if you thought that way.” • Which suggests that, if you can’t speak in the way that you think, you can never explain who you are.

Celebration • The poem ends with a feeling of success since the “lost” tongue, Gujarati, cannot die, and comes back stronger than before. • “it ties the other tongue in knots…it blossoms out of my mouth.” • This replaces the ugly image of a dead tongue with a beautiful image of a natural, thriving flower.

Conflict • Point – There is conflict in this poem between the poet’s English upbringing and her Pakistani relatives. • Quote – “My aunts in shaded rooms” • Explain – This shows that Pakistani life can only be imagined by her, and not very clearly.

Conflict • There is another source of conflict in the poem which is to do with dress. Pakistani and English clothes are very different. • Quote “I longed/for corduroy and denim” • Explain: This shows that she want to fit it with the British culture of her schoolfriends, not stand out in “foreign” clothes.

Conflict • Point: The conflict lessens towards the end of the poem where the poet starts to take an interest in the objects from Pakistan. • Quote • Explanation:

“Search For My Tongue”