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Summary Presents from my Aunt in Pakistan
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English Edexcel GCSE Poetry Time and Place Notes
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Aleena IslamPRESENTS FROM MY AUNT IN PAKISTAN – Moniza Alvi
Themes
Identity, separation and repression, cultural appreciation, familial history,
womanhood
Contextual overview
A teenage girl muses on memories of her homeland, a place from which she has been
absent for quite some time. The voice reflects the way in which she has adjusted to her
new home, yet still yearns for the place of her childhood. The speaker receives gifts,
given to her by her aunts, that make her long for homeland. The speaker reveals that
she moved to England because she had an English grandmother and Pakistan became a
dangerous place for her and her family. Although her homeland was not safe and she
was forced to relocate, the tone of this poem reveals deep-rooted connections with her
past life, a heritage that she cherishes, and her conviction that her identity and shared
AngloPakistani culture cannot and will not be altered by this new life.
Key features of language, form and structure
- The speaker uses vivid imagery and symbolism of the vibrant clothes to
illustrate the vibrancy of her Pakistani heritage. The poem commences with the
speaker describing the salwar kameez as ‘peacock-blue.’ This comparison
emphasises how radiant and bright the blue colour of the dress is, since a
peacock usually has clear implications of being an ostentatious and flamboyant
bird. This flamboyancy is what symbolises the vitality of her Pakistani heritage
and culture.
- She describes her salwar kameez as ‘glistening like an orange split open.’ This
simile gives the reader a very lucid depiction of how luminous and incandescent
the dress is, since the inside of an orange is usually very shiny due to the ripeness
of the fruit itself. Since the dress is being compared to the likes of a lustrous ripe
orange, the reader is left with an admired and amazed perception of a traditional
salwar kameez. Moreover, the orange split open could symbolise how the
speaker feels torn between two contrasting cultures, like an orange split down the
middle.
- Pakistan and England have very disparate clothing from one another; Pakistan’s
clothes are described with vivid colours, for example, the speaker receives an
‘apple-green sari.’ On the other hand, the British ‘denim and corduroy’ can be
seen as prosaic and dull, since there are no radiant or conspicuous colours
involved. The British clothing has a sense of uniformity while the Pakistani
clothing is expressive and passionate to each individual. This distinct contrast is
what emphasises the fact that the speaker is stuck between two very different
cultures and identities.
- The speaker uses meaningful imagery when she depicts the gifted sari as ‘silver-
bordered.’ The colour silver gives the reader an aesthetically appealing illustration
of the sari, since silver often has connotations of being valuable and precious.
This alluring and confident colour represents how valuable her Pakistani heritage
is to her, as well as the vitality of the Pakistani culture.
- The speaker creates a sense of pathos when she experiences a moment of
realisation (epiphany) about herself; ‘I could never be as lovely as these clothes.’
The obvious comparison between herself and the clothes which have been given
as a gift create a sense of pathos for the reader since she realises that she,
accustomed to her prosaic English culture, will never be as beautiful or
extravagant as the clothes that she has been given. This is reinforced by the
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