In Dharker's poem "The right word," language is used to showcase identity and the power of perception. In each stanza, the same situation (someone standing outside the door) is described with different words. In the first lines of the poem, it is a terrorist "lurking in the shadows" (Line 2). The speaker questions this description in the second stanza and describes the person as a freedom fighter "taking shelter in the shadows" (Line 6). Stating that she cannot get the situation right, the speaker then refers to the person standing outside the door as a "hostile militant" in the following stanza (Line 10).
The speaker questions the utility of words, asking if they are "no more / than waving, wavering flags" (Lines 11-12). Recasting the situation yet again, the speaker calls the person standing outside a "guerrilla warrior" and then a "martyr" (Lines 15 and 18). The speaker sees the face of the person, and words will no longer be helpful because just outside the door, "lost in shadows," is a child who resembles the speaker's own (Line 22).
The speaker directly addresses the reader, saying that just outside her door is a boy who looks like the reader's son, too. His hand is too steady and his eyes are too hard. The speaker opens the door and invites the boy to come in and eat with her family. In the final stanza of the poem, the child steps inside and carefully takes his shoes off at the door.
