Language A: Internal Assessment

Student Outline Form

Global Issue: How globalisation has created a struggle for identity and cultural segregation in
society

Texts chosen

Literary work: Foreign, Carol Ann Duffy

Second literary work: Deportation, Carol Ann Duffy

Notes for the oral (maximum of 10 bullet points):

 Foreign – The person is an immigrant living in the city for over 20 years who is still
struggling to adapt in her new “home”; Writer tries to emphasize the challenges faced by
immigrants in a new country/city.
 Has a uniform structure: 5 lines & 4 stanzas; This is very consistent throughout, therefore
could suggest the regularity of suffering as an immigrant
 The use of imperatives such as “imagine” coupled with the use of second-person
perspective can assimilate all readers to the experience of being an immigrant.
 “all that time ago, and now you do not know. why your eyes are watering and what's the
word for this.” This shows he/she feels longing for her home country as she is unable to
recall her own cultural identity further supported by “what’s the word…”
 “You saw a name for yourself sprayed in red against a brick wall. A hate name. Red like
blood.” This line clearly connotes the idea of exclusion and “hate name” for foreigners has
been “sprayed in red”, “red like blood” on some wall, the colour red is a symbolism of
violence. This implies that xenophobia exists to an extent and can lead to violence.
 Deportation – “They have not been kind here. Now I must leave, the words I’ve learned
for supplication” “They” refers to a particular group of people (possibly the officials
deporting him) who have been unwelcoming, with “the words I’ve learned for supplication”,
the author presents an interesting idea depicting the language barrier as an immigrant.

 “Love is a look in the eyes in any language, but not here” - Duffy uses metaphor to bring
about an interesting idea that love can be expression just from eye contact and more
importantly, he hasn’t received any kindness from the officials because they treat him
differently just for his background as an immigrant.
 “Now I am Alien. Where I come from there are few jobs” Duffy’s speaker compares himself
to an “alien”; this illustrates how badly immigrants are treated by the natives, when
contrastingly, the speaker’s country there are “few jobs” so the reason for immigration is
better career prospects which is often accompanied by the struggle of being an outsider
 “We will tire each other out, making our homes in one another's arms.” This line juxtaposes
the concept of struggle with relief; that they’ll “tire” each other out in this foreign land but
can find a sense of belonging in one another’s arms.

© International Baccalaureate Organization 2016

International Baccalaureate® | Baccalauréat International® | Bachillerato
© International Baccalaureate Organization 2016
International Baccalaureate® | Baccalauréat International® | Bachillerato