Presents from my Presents from my Aunts in PakistanAunts in Pakistan

By Moniza Alvi

EAL support materials produced by Carol Shayle & CTC

“They sent me a salwar kameez peacock-blue”

The salwar kameez is worn by women in Pakistan.It is loose fitting trousers and a long tunic.

The peacock is bright blue in colour.

“and anotherglistening like an orange split open,”

The colours contrast with the clothes from England

Which word tells you this is a simile?

Is this description effective?

“embossed slippers, gold and blackpoints curling.”

“Candy- striped glass banglessnapped, drew blood.”

The bangles broke.Candy-canes are striped

“My aunts chose an apple-green sari,

silver-bordered

for my teens”

“I tried each satin-silken top- was alien in the sitting – room.”

• How do the presents make her feel?

“I longed for denim and corduroy.”

What kind of clothes are made out of denim and corduroy?

Denim jeans.

Corduroy

“ I wanted my parents camel- skin lamp- switching it on in my bedroom,”

A camel Camel skin lamps

“marvel at the colours like stained glass.”

What do you notice about the

colours?

“My mother cherished her jewellery- Indian gold, dangling, filigree”

“ My aunts requested cardigans from Marks and Spencers.”

A cardigan

Which country do these clothes come from?

Marks and Spencer

“ My costume clung to me and I was aflame”

What poetic device is used here?

Can you explain what it means?

“ But often I admired the mirror-work,”

Mirror work- small glass circles.

“how the three of us sailed to England”

• The real boat took her away from home, from Pakistan.

“Prickly heat had me screaming on the way. I ended up in a cotin my English grandmother’s dining room, found myself alone, playing with a tin boat”.

“ I pictured my birthplace from fifties photographs”

Do you think she can remember her birthplace?

When did she leave Pakistan?

“When I was olderthere was a conflict, a fractured land

throbbing through newsprint.”

Does the fractured land reflect her identity?

What happened in Pakistan to cause the conflict?

How does she know the land was fractured?

“staring through fretwork”

Fretwork

What is stopping her from being part of Pakistan?

“Or there were beggars, sweeper- girls and I was there-”

Sweeper girl

A beggar on the streets.

“staring through fretwork at the Shalimar Gardens.”

Shalimar Gardens- peaceful, walled gardens in Lahore.

How do you know she doesn’t feel part of Pakistan?

Where do you think the poet is from?

Can you guess where her parents are from?

Do you think she wrote this poem using her own experiences?

The poet- Moniza Alvi.

Moniza was born in Pakistan in 1954, to a Pakistani father and an English mother. She moved to England as a child, and

revisted Pakistan for the first time in 1993.

• What is a ‘salwar kameez’? – 1 point • What two cultures are explored in the poem? – 1

point • What materials does she long for? – 2 points • What do the poet’s Aunt want in return? - 1

point• “glistening like an orange split open” -

what poetic device is used here? – 2 points • Who isn’t impressed by her presents? – 1 point • What is Lahore? – 1 point• How does the poem end? – 2 points • How did the poet and her family travel to

England? - 1 point • What does the structure of the poem reflect? – 2

points

Were you correct?

Key Points of the poemWhat is the poem about?

Structure

Voice in the poem/narrator

Poetic devices used

Tone of poem

What is the effect/purpose of the poem?

Key Points of the poemWhat is the poem about?

About a girl who is confused about her identify and is almost torn between cultures. She wants to the able to wear the clothes her aunts send her but feels that they are too exotic for her. Her friends think the clothes are strange . The poem ends with the poet reflecting on her childhood and home.

Structure 6 stanzas of different lengths. Jagged appearance which reflects the confusion the poet feels about her identity and which culture she belongs to.

Voice in the poem/narrator

Written in the first person. Autobiographical – it is about the poet’s own experience which makes the poem seem more interesting. She is reflecting on her childhood and memories.

Poetic devices usedMetaphors – lines 22-23 Enjambment – lots of examples throughout poem. Simile – line 4Lots of visual imagery through colours.

Tone of poem Confused – conflict between two cultures.

What is the effect/purpose of the poem?

Challenges the reader to think about their own culture, differences between cultures. Can you be part of two cultures.

What defines us – where we are from or where we are?

Key points about the poem

• The poem is about living in an alien culture where the poet feels a loss of identity and no sense of belonging.

• There is a sense that she can only observe her culture and not be part of it.

• The poem is about an individual experiencing two cultures.

• The differences between the two cultures are expressed through material objects, mainly clothes.

Important lines in the poem“Candy - striped glass bangles

snapped, drew blood.” - This is symbolic of how her tradition harms the poet. The clothes and jewellery are not practical for life in the West.

“I tried each satin-silken top -

was alien in the sitting-room” - The clothes represent PARADOX (contradiction). She admires the clothes but feel they are too exotic for her.

“My costume clung to me

and I was aflame” - Metaphor for the discomfort she is feeling. She wants to wear the clothes but as she is half-English, she feels she can not.

“My mother cherished her jewellery - Indian gold, dangling, filligree. But it was stolen from our car” - This event is symbolic of the difficulties of changing from one culture to another.

“no fixed nationality” - the poet has no real sense of belonging.

How to get an A – C grade

• You need to be able to comment on the language that the poet uses and also explain the impact on the reader.

• Remember you always have to PQE!!

• PQE = point, quote, explain.

Questions

• How is the girl’s separation from both How is the girl’s separation from both cultures suggested in the poem?cultures suggested in the poem?

• Why do you think that the poem is Why do you think that the poem is structured in the way that it is? structured in the way that it is?

• Which culture do you think she is more Which culture do you think she is more comfortable with and why? comfortable with and why?

• What is the effect of the poem being What is the effect of the poem being written in first person narrative? written in first person narrative?