Comparing Search for my Tongue and Presents From My Aunts in Pakistan
The writer, Moniza Alvi, reveals her past in her poem Presents from my
Aunts in Pakistan. The poem shows the reader her feelings for
Pakistan, the country she was born in. The line "of no fixed
nationality" sums up the mood of the poem, that because she lives in
England, speaks English but is from Pakistan, she does not seem to
belong anywhere.
The poem Search for my Tongue, written by Sujata Bhatt, is similar to
Presents from my Aunts in Pakistan, The line "I thought I spit it out"
refers to the metaphor the whole poem is based on, that to speak two
languages, to be a part of two cultures, is just as difficult as
speaking with two tongues at once.
While both poems are to inform the reader about the awkwardness of
being of mixed race, the authors go about it in different ways. Moniza
Ali shows the contrast in cultures by making the description of her
presents from her aunts in Pakistan as vivid and exciting as possible:
"glistening like an orange split open" and "embossed slippers". This
creates an image in the reader's mind of Pakistan being a vibrant,
exciting place. Moniza Ali compares this with the clothing she herself
would prefer: "jeans and corduroy" just so that she can fit in with
her friends. This makes the reader emphasize with her struggle to
belong.
Sujata Bhatt uses a different technique to inform the reader about the
struggle to belong. She uses the two meanings of "mother tongue", the
first meaning being the tongue you literally speak with and the second
the language you first learn to speak. This is her way of showing the
reader how she is afraid not to remember her past and her native
language.
Both poems use nature to help their poems come to life; in Presents
from my Aunts in Pakistan Moniza Alvi uses fruits to describe the
vividly coloured presents: "orange split open,' "apple green sari".
Art originally in earlier cultures had a different purpose. Currently people create art for an aesthetic purpose for others to view in galleries, theaters, or museums creating distance for the audience. Initially art was created for purposes other than aesthetics, and people participated and interacted with the art and artist. This intertwined relationship between humans and art is especially seen in the Dineh and Wilbiri cultures. These two groups created drypaintings. People in both these groups directly interacted with the paintings instead of viewing them from a distance. Currently, there is a sense of distance instead of interaction. In these groups, humans participated directly with the artist and the art itself. In both these cultures, the people touched the drypaintings to evoke a response from the holy spirits. This physical interaction and participation with the dry paintings is termed contagion. The Dineh and the Walbiri both practiced contagion in different ways in order to evoke holy spirits because of similar religious beliefs, but their purpose for eliciting assistance from the Gods was different. Through contagion, both these cultures come into contact with the holy spirits.
The story is about two sister who currently lives in America. It has to deal with moving to the United States in the 1960’s. Both sisters moved to the United States in hope to pursue their dreams and to achieve they goals with college and further education. Both having similarities in appearance and religious values. Both Bharati and her sister Mira had planned to move back to their homeland India after their education. This story relates to our point of culture having a major impact on how people judge each other because it has a huge impact on how people view the world differently because, in this example, I feel manipulated and discarded. This is such an unfair way to treat a person who was invited to stay and work here because of her talent” it is basically stating on how even immigrants (like the sisters themselves) who have come into the U.S., are sometimes given fewer benefits and rights than everyone else and that they feel discluded from being able to express themselves if they wanted to, or to have good thoughts that America is as good as people has said it was, with all this freedom. The last example is, I feel some kind of irrational attachment to India that I don’t to America. Until all this hysteria against immigrants, I was totally happy.” This demonstrates that it isn’t the country itself that makes people unsafe or unsure, it’s the people running it who try to put limitations
The way that Zitkala Sa narrated and used diction throughout the first chapter of “Impressions of an Indian Childhood” displays that she had a blissful childhood, and she has not yet realized the negative identity associated with her Indian background. Her word choice is what noticeably strengthened the impression that she remembered her early years as a time of happiness, and she had a good awareness of her culture’s identity. For example, Zitkala Sa wrote, “I was a wild little girl of seven. Loosely clad in a slip of brown buckskin, and light-footed with a pair of soft moccasins on my feet, and no less spirited than a bounding deer” (zitkala sa). She was a very cheerful, young girl ready to explore. The imagery she uses throughout, describing the scenery, much like she explored a
In this poem, there is a young woman and her loving mother discussing their heritage through their matrilineal side. The poem itself begins with what she will inherit from each family member starting with her mother. After discussing what she will inherit from each of her family members, the final lines of the poem reflect back to her mother in which she gave her advice on constantly moving and never having a home to call hers. For example, the woman describes how her father will give her “his brown eyes” (Line 7) and how her mother advised her to eat raw deer (Line 40). Perhaps the reader is suggesting that she is the only survivor of a tragedy and it is her heritage that keeps her going to keep safe. In the first two lines of the poem, she explains how the young woman will be taking the lines of her mother’s (Lines 1-2). This demonstrates further that she is physically worried about her features and emotionally worried about taking on the lineage of her heritage. Later, she remembered the years of when her mother baked the most wonderful food and did not want to forget the “smell of baking bread [that warmed] fined hairs in my nostrils” (Lines 3-4). Perhaps the young woman implies that she is restrained through her heritage to effectively move forward and become who she would like to be. When reading this poem, Native American heritage is an apparent theme through the lifestyle examples, the fact lineage is passed through woman, and problems Native Americans had faced while trying to be conquested by Americans. Overall, this poem portrays a confined, young woman trying to overcome her current obstacles in life by accepting her heritage and pursuing through her
The way the points of views in each different poem creates a different theme for each poems using different points diction to convey meaning for each of the two poems. In the poem “Birthday” a humorous tone shows a newborn baby in a first person point of view. As opposed to the poem “The Secret Life of Books” which uses a third person point of view for a more serious tone. The two poems would change dramatically whiteout the different points of views because without the humor of the newborn baby being the narrator the poem might take a different spin on the meaning to create a more serious tone. As opposed to “The Secret Life of Books” where the poem is a big personification which if it was not in a third person point of view it might have a a humorous tome in the background. The two poems have many things that help contrast them with each other another one of these being the theme chosen to give each poem a separate identity, while “Birthday” has some background information in some of the diction it uses to World War II “The Secret Life of Books” has no need for the knowledge of background information just the curiosity of the brain
Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado” is a horror story about revenge and murder that occurred half a century ago. Through the haunting confession of the narrator, Montresor, the reader is able to feel what Fortunato had endured half a century ago. In this tale of revenge and murder the dark, damp, and bone-filled catacombs provide a contrast to life during the “madness of the carnival” (553).
“Like many immigrant offspring I felt intense pressure to be two things, loyal to the old world and fluent in the new, approved of on either side of the hyphen” (Lahiri, My Two lives). Jhumpa Lahiri, a Pulitzer Prize winner, describes herself as Indian-American, where she feels she is neither an Indian nor an American. Lahiri feels alienated by struggling to live two lives by maintaining two distinct cultures. Lahiri’s most of the work is recognized in the USA rather than in India where she is descents from (the guardian.com). Lahiri’s character’s, themes, and imagery in her short stories and novels describes the cultural differences of being Indian American and how Indian’s maintain their identity when moved to a new world. Lahiri’s inability to feel accepted within her home, inability to be fully American, being an Indian-American, and the difference between families with same culture which is reflected in one of her short stories “Once in a Lifetime” through characterization and imagery.
The source is about the meeting of an Indian that came right into the colony. He spoke broken English. He asked them for a beer, instead they gave him food and water. Around evening time the colonists were ready for him leave. He described the area and the inhabitants there to the settlers. They also gave him a coat, a very nice coat. He was not ready to leave, so the colonists were going to put him aboard ship, but they could not get to the ship. So they gave him a room Stephen Hopkin’s home where they watched him carefully. The next day he went back to Massasoits, who was the Chief of the Indian tribe. He informed them that the Nauset Indian tribe were enemies of the Europeans because they had taken some of the Native Indians and sold them into slavery. As the Native American was leaving they gave him a bracelet, a knife and a ring, and he promised to return within a day or two. He was going to bring Massasoits and others from the tribe and beaver skins. He actually spoke broken English, he had learned some English being around English fishermen. He asked for a beer, and instead they gave him strong water, biscuit with butter and cheese, duck and some pudding.
Has culture ever influenced you? Despite cultures huge place in the world, I think culture does not influence the world. I believe that culture does not influence the world because, no one is going to change their thoughts on a person just because of their culture. For example if someone loved another person then the find out the other person is from an Indian culture would that person hate the other just because there Indian?
In the poem “Calendar Fragments” by a Qee’esh Indian, the two themes of Native American literature are displayed. The theme of “all things in nature are related and should be respected” is evidenced when the Indian writes, “February… the season of sprouting… snakes crawl forth and frogs sing, trees awaken and put out leaves”. By this, the Indian probably means that due to the trees putting out their leaves and everything sprouting, the snakes and frogs come out. This shows the interdependence between the two aspects of nature - animals and plants. The animals use the trees as a sign that it’s time to appear from their hibernation; eventually, a whole ecosystem evolves that revolves around the plants. Next, the theme of “all things in nature
My father immigrated to the United States when he was ten years old. He worked hard in his childhood and strived to become the first member of his family to attend college. While I was growing up he had only two requests for me: that I only do what I truly enjoy doing and that I don’t forget my Indian heritage.
The purpose of going every day to classes and studying is to increase our knowledge and applies these sciences to benefit the nation. After this long semester, my horizons have expanded via many different information and activities that we practiced in the class. I have written four essays that are completely different from one another. In addition, of the big research that we have been working on at the end of the semester. I lived with my imagination during writing about each of the Chinese learning center, , Flavi's home and Arranging a marriage in India.
Food is one of the most important parts of celebrations for, births, deaths, and marriages around the world. It is an important staple in everyday living and a person cannot survive without it. Food and culture are closely intertwined, cultures of every part of the world go to considerable lengths to obtain and prepare meals for important celebrations. In this paper I hope to inform you of the different staple diets of Africa, some important celebrations that use food in their celebrations, and the culture that completes the circle. I will answer some questions of why food is important and what types of foods are common uses in today’s African society.
Here again Lahiri displays her deft touch for the perfect detail -- the fleeting moment, the turn of phrase -- that opens whole worlds of emotion. The self- assurance and intellectual adequacy with which Lahiri handles her subject matter is peculiar to her alone. Lahiri has particularly focused on the of ‘Alienation’ which results in loss of identity turns a person into a pathetic figure, his voice being an echo, his life a quotation, his soul and brain and his free spirit a slave to things. The rootlessness of Indian English novelists tend to threaten their creative talents and force their work to follow a more or less fixed pattern giving at times the impression of superficiality and stereotypedness. Her stories reveal more sensitive issues of first and second generation immigrants. Lahiri
Humans have an appetite for food, and anthropology as the study of human culture can discover a lot through the eating ideas and behaviours of various cultures. Throughout the world many different countries and different cultures have different dining etiquette and rules. This is something often taken for granted. From personal experience working on cruise ships, where many different cultures mix in a small environment, what seemed to stand out to me were the differences in dining etiquette. Unfortunately, to the point where some colleges preferred to eat in a separate dining area with members of similar cultures, as what was taken for granted by those with European dining etiquette was completely foreign to others, notably those with an Indian background, this was on occasion to the point of ridicule and scorn. The importance of food in understanding human culture rests in its vast changeability, a changeability that is not central for species survival. For survival needs, people everywhere could eat the same food, yet people of different cultural backgrounds eat differently.