Originally

Question 1

Emotional Trauma

Answer 1

“My brothers cried, one of them bawling”

The emotional impact of being ripped away from everything you know, and the extreme sadness at leaving it all behind.

Question 2

Isolation

Answer 2

“Where no one you know stays”

The social isolation of moving away from your home, and leaving everyone you know behind,

Question 3

Loss

Answer 3

“The city, the street, the house, the vacant rooms”
“I lost a river, culture, speech, sense of first space and the right place”

The literal of loss her house and surroundings, but also the less physical sense of belonging to a place and culture, and her confidence in herself.

Question 4

Change

Answer 4

“My tongue shedding its skin like a snake”

The change of her accent, and the loss of her Scottish identity and belonging

Question 5

Love

Answer 5

“I want our own country, I said.”

The use of italics makes the poet’s desire for her own country stand out, emphasising the love which she felt for her home.

Question 6

Contrast

Answer 6

“Some are slow, leaving you standing, resigned, up an avenue where no one you know stays. Others are sudden. Your accent wrong.”

The contrast between the slow, dwindling sentence and the short, snappy sentences demonstrate how confusing big changes can be for a child.

Question 7

Childhood Experiences

Answer 7

“Red room which fell through the fields”

A very childlike interpretation of a train, and the speed at which it travels

“All childhood is an emigration”

Shows how childhood is full of change, cycling through the different stages of life and the constant threat of ‘growing up’.