All Short Questions on "An introduction" By Kamala Das.

An introduction

By

Kamala Das

1. What does the poetess know about Indian politics?

 The poetess Kamala Das does not understand politics but she knows the name of every Indian politician beginning with Nehru and she can say those names as easily as the names of days, months.

2. “I am Indian”—Who refers herself as an Indian? Where was the speaker born?

 The poetess Kamala Das refers herself as Indian. 

 She was born in Malabar.

3. How many languages did the poetess know to speak, write? What was her native language?

 The poetess knew three languages to speak and two languages to write.

 Malayalam was her native language.

4. “Don’t write in English”—Who orders and to whom? Why does the speaker say so?

 All the critics, friends, visiting cousins order the poetess not to write in English because English is not her mother-tongue.

5. “Why not leave me alone”—Who says so and to whom? Why does the speaker say so?

 The poetess Kamala Das says so to her critics, friends and visiting cousins because they all protest her to write or speak in other language except her mother-tongue. 

6. Which languages are Kamala Das’ own language? How does Kamala Das describe her own language?

 According to Kamala Das, the languages that she likes to speak, write are her own language that may be incomplete, with distortions, queerness because with those languages she can express her joys, longings.

 Those languages are as useful to the poetess as cawing to crows, roaring to the lions.

7. How does the poetess compare her English writings to the trees and clouds?

 According to the poetess, her English writings are not incoherent and insignificant like the sound of trees and clouds.

8. “I was a child, and later they

Told me I grew…………………..”—Who is ‘I’ here? Who are ‘they’ here? Why do they consider that the referred person has grown up?

 Here ‘I’ refers to the poetess Kamala Das.

 Here ‘they’ refers to the people of society.

 They consider that the poetess has grown up because she has become tall and her limbs have swelled and also in one or two places of her body, hair has sprouted. 

9. “………….ignored my womanliness”—Who ignored her womanliness? How did she do that? Why did she do that?

 Here in the poem “An Introduction”, the poetic persona i.e. the poetess herself wanted to ignore her womanliness.

 To ignore her womanliness, she wore her brother’s dresses, cut her hair short.

 She did so because she could not endure the pain of being a woman in this male-dominated society.

10. “Dress in sarees, be girl

Be wife, they said…………”—Who said this and to whom? When did they say so?

 The people of society said this to the poetess Kamala Das.

 When to ignore her womanliness, she wore her brother’s dresses, cut her hair short, they said so.

11. What did the categoriser/ society advise the poetess?

 The categoriser/ society advised the poetess to dress in saree to be looked like a girl or someone else’s wife. They also advised her to be cook, embroiderer or a quarreller. 

12. What did the categoriser/ society forbid the poetess?

 The categoriser/ society forbade the poetess to sit on walls, peep through window curtain and even to cry loudly.

13. “Be Amy, or be Kamala. Or better

Still be Madhavikutty.”—Explain.

 The male-dominated society always underestimates the identity of woman in this society. They want that woman should live her life like a dependent woman.

14. What can a man do at midnight?

 At midnight, a man can drink wine in a hotel of strange town lonely without anyone’s permission. 

15. “…………………….anywhere and

Everywhere I see the one who calls himself I”—Whose confession is this? Explain.

 The poetess Kamala Das says this.

 Kamala Das meets so many people in her life and loves many of them. But when she asks them who they are. They answer that they only love themselves not the poetess. Here a male ego is evident in their answers.

16. “I too call myself I”—Who is ‘I’ here? Explain.

 Here ‘I’ refers to the poetess Kamala Das herself.

 When the poetess seeks love everywhere, she observes that no body loves her. They only love themselves and express their identity as “I”. So, the poetess also decides to call herself ‘I’.

17. What type of poem is this?

 An Introduction is a confessional autobiographical poem.