Presents From My Aunts In
Pakistan
by Moniza Alvi
Learning Objectives
As we study this poem you will learn:
• The story of the poem
• Cultural alienation
• More about the terms,
Metaphor: Tone: Key Phrases & Colour Imagery.
• You will also complete some mini tasks, a test and
an assignment on the poem.
Starter
• Write down what you know about Salwar
Kameez.
Presents from my Aunts in Pakistan
by Moniza Alvi
They sent me a salwar kameez
peacock-blue,
and another
glistening like an orange split open,
embossed slippers, gold and black
points curling.
Candy-striped glass bangles
snapped, drew blood
Like at school, fashions changed
in Pakistan the salwar bottoms were broad and stiff,
then narrow.
My aunts chose an apple-green sari,
silver-bordered
for my teens.
I tried each satin-silken top was alien in the sitting-room.
I could never be as lovely
as those clothes –
I longed
for denim and corduroy.
My costume clung to me
and I was aflame,
I couldn't rise up out of its fire,
half-English,
unlike Aunt Jamila.
I wanted my parents' camel-skin lamp switching it on in my bedroom,
to consider the cruelty
and the transformation
from camel to shade,
marvel at the colours
like stained glass.
My mother cherished her jewellery Indian gold, dangling, filigree.
But it was stolen from our car.
The presents were radiant in my wardrobe.
My aunts requested cardigans
from Marks and Spencers.
My salwar kameez
didn't impress the schoolfriend
who sat on my bed, asked to see
my weekend clothes.
But often I admired the mirror-work,
tried to glimpse myself
in the miniature
glass circles, recall the story
how the three of us
sailed to England.
Prickly heat had me screaming on the way.
I ended up in a cot
in my English grandmother's dining-room,
found myself alone,
playing with a tin boat.
I pictured my birthplace
from fifties' photographs.
When I was older
there was conflict, a fractured land
throbbing through newsprint.
Sometimes I saw Lahore my aunts in shaded rooms,
screened from male visitors,
sorting presents,
wrapping them in tissue.
Or there were beggars, sweeper-girls
and I was there - of no fixed nationality,
staring through fretwork
at the Shalimar Gardens.
Presents from my Aunts in Pakistan
by Moniza Alvi
The Background To The Poem
Moniza Alvi was born in 1968 of mixed
parentage, her father being Pakistani
and her mother English. She was born
in Pakistan but moved to England at a
young age. The poem 'Presents from
My Aunts in Pakistan' expresses her
confusion in her search for her identity.
The traditional clothes that her aunts
sent her from Pakistan are a symbol of
a part of her, but only a part of her,
and one that she does not feel entirely
comfortable with..
Mini Task 1
Write down what you think is the ‘story of the
poem.’
Presents from my Aunts in Pakistan
by Moniza Alvi
The Story Of The Poem
A young girl of mixed race, half English, half
Pakistani, is sent vey colourful clothes as
presents for her birthday by her Aunts who still
live in Pakistan. Although she appreciates the
beauty of the clothes she does not feel she can
wear them. She wants to wear ‘ordinary’ clothes
like her school-friends and feels embarrassed
when she has to wear her Pakistani clothes.
She is reminded of her birthplace, Lahore and
her journey from there to England where her
family had nowhere to stay but her English
grandparents once they arrived. She remembers
a ‘fractured land’ , a reference to Bangladesh’s
war for independence in 1971 when she was 3
years old.
At the end of the poem she is forced to
conclude that that she feels that she doesn't
belong anywhere and is of ‘no fixed nationality’.
Presents from my Aunts in Pakistan
by Moniza Alvi
The Poem ~ Structure & Meaning
They sent me a salwar kameez
peacock-blue,
and another
glistening like an orange split open,
embossed slippers, gold and black
points curling.
Candy-striped glass bangles
snapped, drew blood
We know who ‘they’ are from the title of
the poem, but calling her Aunts ‘they’ in
this manner is impolite and sets the tone
for her negative attitude towards the gifts
she is sent.
‘peacock blue’ & ‘glistening orange are
vibrant colours and are the first examples
of the use of colour imagery in the poem.
And colour imagery dominates this
stanza ~ blue, orange, gold, black, candy
striped & blood red.
The bangles drawing blood is a more
sinister use of colour imagery. But how did
the bangles snap? I don’t think it
happened accidently, I think she snapped
them and in doing so cut herself. If this is
so then the question is, why?
Note the shape of the poem. The poet
has set it out on a sort of spiral form, not
left justified as most poems are.
Presents from my Aunts in Pakistan
by Moniza Alvi
The Poem ~ Structure & Meaning
Like at school, fashions changed
in Pakistan the salwar bottoms were broad and stiff,
then narrow.
My aunts chose an apple-green sari,
silver-bordered
for my teens.
This is the first reference to her
‘everyday’ life and the effect that
fashion is having on her and her
cultural identity.
Note the enjambment on the two
lines and the emphasis it places on
‘in Pakistan’..
The poet then details the changing
fashions in Pakistan, ironically these
mirror the changing fashions in the
UK.
She then describes the sari she
got for her thirteenth birthday, which
may have been appropriate for a
teenager in Pakistan, but she clearly
feels it was not appropriate for her.
Mini Task 2
I tried each satin-silken top –
was alien in the sitting-room.
I could never be as lovely
as those clothes –
I longed
for denim and corduroy.
My costume clung to me
and I was aflame,
I couldn't rise up out of its fire,
half-English,
unlike Aunt Jamila.
In this stanza spot examples
of :
• alliteration
• irony
• metaphor
• alienation
• key phrases
Mini Task 2
I tried each satin-silken top –
was alien in the sitting-room.
I could never be as lovely
as those clothes –
I longed
for denim and corduroy.
My costume clung to me
and I was aflame,
I couldn't rise up out of its fire,
half-English,
unlike Aunt Jamila.
In this stanza spot examples
of :
• alliteration
Mini Task 2
I tried each satin-silken top –
was alien in the sitting-room.
I could never be as lovely
as those clothes –
I longed
for denim and corduroy.
My costume clung to me
and I was aflame,
I couldn't rise up out of its fire,
half-English,
unlike Aunt Jamila.
In this stanza spot examples
of :
•irony
Mini Task 2
I tried each satin-silken top –
was alien in the sitting-room.
I could never be as lovely
as those clothes –
I longed
for denim and corduroy.
My costume clung to me
and I was aflame,
I couldn't rise up out of its fire,
half-English,
unlike Aunt Jamila.
In this stanza spot examples
of :
•metaphor
Mini Task 2
I tried each satin-silken top –
was alien in the sitting-room.
I could never be as lovely
as those clothes –
I longed
for denim and corduroy.
My costume clung to me
and I was aflame,
I couldn't rise up out of its fire,
half-English,
unlike Aunt Jamila.
In this stanza spot examples
of :
•key phrases
Mini Task 2
I tried each satin-silken top –
was alien in the sitting-room.
I could never be as lovely
as those clothes –
I longed
for denim and corduroy.
My costume clung to me
and I was aflame,
I couldn't rise up out of its fire,
half-English,
unlike Aunt Jamila.
In this stanza spot examples
of :
•alienation
Presents from my Aunts in Pakistan
by Moniza Alvi
The Poem ~ Structure & Meaning
I tried each satin-silken top was alien in the sitting-room.
I could never be as lovely
as those clothes –
I longed
for denim and corduroy.
My costume clung to me
and I was aflame,
I couldn't rise up out of its fire,
half-English,
unlike Aunt Jamila.
She tries on the clothes she is sent more out of
duty than because she wants to wear them….
….because they make her feel ‘alien’. They don’t
belong in the English life she is now living and
consequently she doesn't belong in them.
Ironically she does recognize their beauty but
does not feel that she is beautiful enough to wear
them.
What she wants is the dull blue, black or brown
clothes that ordinary English people wear.
She describes the clothes she has been sent
as a ‘costume’, like something she wears when he
has to ‘act’ being Pakistani. They embarrass her
so much she feels like she is on fire when she
wears them and she feels she cannot escape
from this metaphorical & literal torment.
Interestingly she feels ‘half-English’ not halfPakistani. Again enjambment draws attention to
this line, giving it importance.
Note the rhyme/alliteration on ‘satin-silken’ &
‘costume clung’ and the fire metaphor.
Mini Task 3
I wanted my parents' camel-skin lamp switching it on in my bedroom,
to consider the cruelty
and the transformation
from camel to shade,
marvel at the colours
Write down what you
think the metaphor
of the Came Skin
Lamp is.
Presents from my Aunts in Pakistan
by Moniza Alvi
The Poem ~ Structure & Meaning
I wanted my parents' camel-skin lamp switching it on in my bedroom,
to consider the cruelty
and the transformation
from camel to shade,
marvel at the colours
Decorated camel skin lamps are a
traditional handicraft item given as a gift in
Pakistan. Presumably her parents would
have brought this with them when they left
Pakistan so it must be valuable or have
some sentimental value.
In the same way as she is attracted to and
simultaneously repelled by the clothes her
aunts send her, she responds in a similar
way to her parents camel skin lamp; she
recognizes its beauty, but is appalled by the
cruelty involved in its creation.
The importance of these lines to the poem
is they are a metaphor for her own
experience and the ‘cruelty’ of her own
transformation from an English schoolgirl to
Pakistani maiden. Also there is a sense here
that the skin belongs on the camel so
making a lamp out of it is wrong; in the same
way she belongs in hr English clothes not
transformed by those he aunts send her.
Presents from my Aunts in Pakistan
by Moniza Alvi
The Poem ~ Structure & Meaning
My mother cherished her jewellery Indian gold, dangling, filigree.
But it was stolen from our car..
The presents were radiant in my wardrobe.
My aunts requested cardigans
from Marks and Spencers
Her mother was English but seems
at home with her dual nationality as
she cherishes her Indian jewellery.
and does not reject it, or the culture
it represents, unlike her daughter..
Ironically the jewellery is stolen,
perhaps this a metaphor for cultural
identity being stolen, it is also a
reminder of the reality of life in
England.
Another reference to the colour
and the beauty of the clothes her
Aunts send her…..
…..yet ironically it is boring, dull
M&S cardis they want in return!
Mini Task 4
My salwar kameez
didn't impress the schoolfriend
who sat on my bed, asked to see
my weekend clothes.
But often I admired the mirror-work,
tried to glimpse myself
in the miniature
glass circles, recall the story
Write down what you
think the metaphor
the poet uses here
is.
Presents from my Aunts in Pakistan
by Moniza Alvi
The Poem ~ Structure & Meaning
My salwar kameez
didn't impress the schoolfriend
who sat on my bed, asked to see
my weekend clothes
But often I admired the mirror-work,
tried to glimpse myself
in the miniature
glass circles, recall the story
Another reason for her to reject her cultural
roots ~ her Pakistani clothes do not ‘impress’
her English friends; and peer acceptance is
very important at this age as teenagers try to
establish their own, unique identity.
In the week she would presumably wear
school uniform but at the weekend she is free
to wear what she wants; and what she wants
is to be a ‘normal’ English girl, not some
‘freak’ decked out in multi coloured saris.
Once again she finds something to admire
in the clothes she has been given. This time it
is the tiny mirrors that are sown into some of
these garments. But her reflection would not
be whole, it would be fractured as she would
not be able to see all of herself in anyone of
these mirrors. This notion also reflects her
own view of herself and her cultural identity.
Presents from my Aunts in Pakistan
by Moniza Alvi
The Poem ~ Structure & Meaning
glass circles, recall the story
how the three of us
sailed to England..
Prickly heat had me screaming on the way.
I ended up in a cot
in my English grandmother's dining-room
found myself alone,
playing with a tin boat
Looking at her fractured reflection
reminds her of her early childhood and
the journey to England by boat (not by
air). This is the first hint that they left, or
were evacuated from Pakistan in a rush.
She remembers the physical pain the
journey caused her, but the emotional
pain has probably been much greater.
She ends up in a cot in her
grandmother’s dining room. More
evidence that the journey had been
rushed and unplanned because her
parents hadn’t even had time to find
somewhere to live before they arrived.
She finds herself alone, but this is just
the beginning of what will be her cultural
isolation. This is quite a strong image to
end the stanza.
`
Presents from my Aunts in Pakistan
by Moniza Alvi
The Poem ~ Structure & Meaning
I pictured my birthplace
from fifties' photographs.
When I was older
there was conflict, a fractured land
throbbing through newsprint.
Sometimes I saw Lahore my aunts in shaded rooms,
screened from male visitors,
sorting presents,
wrapping them in tissue
She is left imagining her identity through
old photographs her parents took of her
birthplace.
She is then reminded of the Pakistan/
Bangladesh war in 1971 when she was 3
years old. It was this conflict that probably
forced her parents to leave Pakistan when
she was so young.
The reference to 'a fractured land', also
helps reinforce the feeling she creates in the
poem of her own fractured identity
Lahore is the capital of the Pakistani
province of Punjab and the second largest
city in Pakistan. The poet sees Lahore in
her memory (not the photographs) and is
remembers her Aunts wrapping presents,
like the ones they sent her.
The screening would imply that she
comes from a Muslim family, perhaps
another source of conflict for her.
Mini Task 5
Or there were beggars, sweeper-girls
and I was there of no fixed nationality
staring through fretwork
at the Shalimar Gardens
Write down what you think is
the Key Phrase in this final
‘stanza.’
Explain why you think it is the
key phrase.
Presents from my Aunts in Pakistan
by Moniza Alvi
The Poem ~ Structure & Meaning
Or there were beggars, sweeper-girls.
and I was there of no fixed nationality,
staring through fretwork
at the Shalimar Gardens
An interesting contrast is introduced on
this line. Her family is obviously fairly well
off, rich enough at least to send her all
these fabulous clothes; but as well as
remembering her Aunts, she also
remembers the beggars, a symbol of the
poverty of her birthplace.
‘of no fixed nationality’. Is probably the
most important line in the poem and sums
up what the poet has been trying to say in
the rest of the poem.
She knows where she was born and
remembers her life and the culture there,
but she feels her cultural ties to her past
also prevent her feeling completely at home
in England; so she feels she belongs to
neither country or culture.
However interestingly her final thought is
of a beautiful part of Pakistan, not of
England.
Presents from my Aunts in Pakistan
by Moniza Alvi
What The Poet Says About The Poem
Presents from My Aunts...was one of
the first poems I wrote. When I wrote this
poem, I hadn't actually been back to
Pakistan. The girl in the poem would be
me at about 13. The clothes seem to stick
to her in an uncomfortable way, a bit like
a kind of false skin, and she thinks things
aren't straightforward for her.
I found it was important to write the
Pakistan poems because I was getting in
touch with my background. And maybe
there's a bit of a message behind the
poems about something I went through,
that I want to maybe open a few doors if
possible.
Assignment
How does Moniza Alvi’s use of Colour Imagery
help to make Presents from my Aunts in Pakistan
an effective poem.
400-600 words by Monday 14th April