Originally

Question 1

“We came from our own country in a red room which fell through the fields”

Answer 1

• The ‘red’ in “red room” indicates that the persona feels pain about leaving their home country
• The ‘red room’ represents the removal van
• ‘Fell’ indicates that the persona is experiencing an unpleasant feeling, like the sensation of falling

Question 2

“our mother singing our father’s name to the turn of the wheels.”

Answer 2

• The parents are happy to be moving

Question 3

“My brother’s cried, one of the them bawling Home, Home,”

Answer 3

• The children of the family are clearly unhappy and want to go back
• They have been taken away from where they feel they truly belong

Question 4

“All childhood is an emigration.”

Answer 4

• There is a move from childish behaviour to mature behaviour during childhood

Question 5

“Others are sudden. Your accent wrong.”

Answer 5

• Short sentence emphasises the suddenness of the change
• Accent is the first thing she notices and the first thing others notice about her

Question 6

• Short sentence emphasises the suddenness of the change
• Accent is the first thing she notices and the first thing others notice about her

Answer 6

• The streets of her hometown look the same but they lead to different places
• ‘Pebble-dashed’ represents the difference in words in her new hometown
• This line shows that when you grow up, you cannot predict what will happen in the future

Question 7

“big boys eating worms and shouting words you don’t understand.”

Answer 7

• Harsh sounding plosives convey the strength of the accent of the ‘big boys’
• ‘Eating worms’ conveys that their accent sounds like they’re eating something
• The boys are hard to understand and are threatening and unpleasant

Question 8

“My parents’ anxiety stirred like a loose tooth in my head. I want our own country, I said.”

Answer 8

• Her parents are worried because she has not settled in
• She is aware of her parents’ worries, like she would be aware of a loose tooth
• The final sentence indicates that she is young but still wishes to go back to where she feels she belongs

Question 9

“But then you forget, or don’t recall, or change,”

Answer 9

• She settles in as she becomes used to her new life

Question 10

“I remember my tongue shedding its skin like a snake, my voice in the classroom sounding just like the rest.”

Answer 10

• She has lost her Scottish accent
• The ‘s’ sounds convey a snake’s hiss
• She is blending in with the classmates around her and is beginning to be exactly like them

Question 11

“Now, Where do you come from? strangers ask. Originally? And I hesitate.”

Answer 11

• Her accent is mixed and people cannot identify where she is from
• She hesitates because she doesn’t know where she truly belongs