How does Kamala Das express her fear of losing her mother in the poem My Mother at Sixty Six? What are the literary devices and techniques she uses to convey her emotions? Quote from the poem to illustrate your answer.

Answer as written by the student:

Kamala Das expresses her fear of losing her mother in the poem My Mother at Sixty Six by:

• Describing her mother’s face as pale and lifeless, like a corpse or a late winter’s moon.
• Realizing with pain that her mother is as old as she looks and may not live long.
• Feeling the old familiar ache and childhood’s fear of being separated from her mother.
• Smiling and smiling and smiling to hide her tears and emotions.

She uses literary devices and techniques such as:

• Imagery: She uses words and phrases that create vivid pictures of her mother’s appearance, the scenery outside, and the airport scene. For example, she writes “her face ashen like that of a corpse” (line 6) and “wan, pale as a late winter’s moon” (line 15) to show her mother’s old age and frailty.
• Simile: She uses comparisons with the words “like” or “as” to show the contrast between her mother and other things. For example, she compares her mother to a corpse, a late winter’s moon, and a marionette (line 18).
• Repetition: She repeats words or phrases to create emphasis and effect. For example, she repeats “smile and smile and smile” in line 20 to show her fake happiness and hidden sadness.
• Ellipsis: She uses three dots (…) at the end of the poem to show the incompleteness of her feelings and thoughts . She also leaves the reader wondering what will happen next.

Step-by-step explanation of the answer:

• The answer begins with an introduction that states the main idea of the question: how Kamala Das expresses her fear of losing her mother in the poem My Mother at Sixty Six.
• The answer then provides a list of the ways that Kamala Das expresses her fear, using bullet points for clarity and skimmability.
• The answer also provides quotes from the poem to illustrate each point in the list
• The answer then provides a list of the literary devices and techniques that she uses, using bullet points for clarity and skimmability.
• The answer ends with a conclusion that summarizes the main points of the answer.