Explore and Discuss What It Is Like to Belong to Two Different Cultures, as Shown in the Poems "Presents from My Aunts in Pakistan" and "Search for My Tongue".
Explore and discuss what it is like to belong to two different cultures, as shown in the poems “Presents from my Aunts in Pakistan” and “Search for my Tongue”
Culture is the way you live your life, the way you exist, the way you survive. It is the area that you live in, the cuisine that you consume, the clothes that you dress in, the dialect that you dictate, the way you commemorate special occasions and the way you worship and believe in a religion. The poems “Presents from my Aunts in Pakistan” and “Search for my Tongue” show how being part of two very different cultures can be both a negative and positive experience. The poem “Presents from my Aunts in Pakistan” is about a girl who sails to England from Pakistan. Years later, she receives presents from her Aunts who live in Pakistan. She obtains a salwar kameez from her Aunts, an item of clothing that originates from Pakistani culture. The clothes do not fit in with England’s latest fashion and she is not sure as to whether she likes the salwar kameez. She states that she is “alien” meaning foreign when she wears the clothes which shows she may be ashamed or embarrassed, she also states that “she was aflame” which could mean she is lit up by the clothes, standing out of the crowd, unique. The poet of “Presents from my Aunts in Pakistan” is called Moniza Alvi, she was born in Lahore, in Pakistan. She was the daughter of an English mother and a Pakistani father. They moved to Hertfordshire in England when she only a few months old, just like in the poem; this suggests that the poem is autobiographical. The poem “Search for my Tongue” is about the problems you face with your language, when you move from one culture to another. The girl expresses her feelings about knowing two “tongues” meaning languages. She explains how uncomfortable it is to have two “tongues” in her mouth, until she has a dream and her mother tongue takes over, it “blossoms out of her mouth”. The poet, Sujata Bhatt, was
Culture is the way you live your life, the way you exist, the way you survive. It is the area that you live in, the cuisine that you consume, the clothes that you dress in, the dialect that you dictate, the way you commemorate special occasions and the way you worship and believe in a religion. The poems “Presents from my Aunts in Pakistan” and “Search for my Tongue” show how being part of two very different cultures can be both a negative and positive experience. The poem “Presents from my Aunts in Pakistan” is about a girl who sails to England from Pakistan. Years later, she receives presents from her Aunts who live in Pakistan. She obtains a salwar kameez from her Aunts, an item of clothing that originates from Pakistani culture. The clothes do not fit in with England’s latest fashion and she is not sure as to whether she likes the salwar kameez. She states that she is “alien” meaning foreign when she wears the clothes which shows she may be ashamed or embarrassed, she also states that “she was aflame” which could mean she is lit up by the clothes, standing out of the crowd, unique. The poet of “Presents from my Aunts in Pakistan” is called Moniza Alvi, she was born in Lahore, in Pakistan. She was the daughter of an English mother and a Pakistani father. They moved to Hertfordshire in England when she only a few months old, just like in the poem; this suggests that the poem is autobiographical. The poem “Search for my Tongue” is about the problems you face with your language, when you move from one culture to another. The girl expresses her feelings about knowing two “tongues” meaning languages. She explains how uncomfortable it is to have two “tongues” in her mouth, until she has a dream and her mother tongue takes over, it “blossoms out of her mouth”. The poet, Sujata Bhatt, was