"Search for my tongue" and "Unrelated Incidents"

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"Search for my tongue" and "Unrelated Incidents"

In this essay I intend to show how the two poems "Search for my tongue" and "Unrelated Incidents" show that language and identity is an important part of life. Also I will show my response to the way the poems are written and perhaps show how language is a big part of identity.

"Search for my tongue" is about how the language can show your identity. The author has shown that the different language she speaks are all part of her identity. Here the writer believes that "if you had two tongues in your mouth and lost the first one the mother tongue" Clearly here the writer has shown that "the mother tongue" is important; it forms a person's identity.

The language used in "Search for my tongue" is important to how the writer, Sujata Bhatt, puts the point across of how a person can be torn between two cultures due to the language. The poet has expressed confusion through the Denranagari script in the middle of the poem. Here, the reader is confused as to why this language is written. The reader is put in the poets shoes and feels the poets' emotions. This relates to the two different cultures in the poem; Bhatt also shows that language is a part of her, "it blossoms out of my mouth" The tongue is described as a flower that has always been there. The metaphor signifies that the "mother tongue" is strong, as it is just as essential as the other "foreign tongue"
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Furthermore the identity of the poet is expressed through language. The strong imagery of "your mother tongue would rot rot and die in your mouth" is used; the poet has used the "rot" repeatedly which signifies the imagery of decay. This also confirms that Bhatt fears she might lose her mother tongue as it is eventually disappearing, consequently she is losing he identity. The reader is then shown that the poet "thought I spit it out but overnight while I dream" Her clearly the woman is subconscious and her "mother tongue", her identity returns. This moreover implies that ...

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