Reading in another language implies a perpetual state of growth, of possibility. I - Jhumpa Lahiri

She learned that an act intended to express love could have nothing to do with it. That her heart and her body were different things.

Without language you can't feel that you have a legitimate, respected presence. You are without a voice, without power.

It's a sort of literary act of survival. I don't have many words to express myself — rather, the opposite. I'm aware of a state of deprivation. And yet, at the same time, I feel free, light. I rediscover the reason that I write, the joy as well as the need.