Presents From My Aunts In Pakistan
by Moniza Alvi
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Presents From My Aunts In Pakistan
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.
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Presents From My Aunts In Pakistan
Starter
Write down what you know about Salwar Kameez.
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Presents From My Aunts In Pakistan
Starter
Write down what you know about Salwar Kameez.
The Salwar are
loose pajama-like trousers.
The legs are wide at the top,
and narrow at the ankle. The
Kameez is a long shirt or
tunic, often seen with a
Western-style collar;
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Presents From My Aunts In Pakistan
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
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.
Presents From My Aunts In Pakistan
Mini Task 1
Write down what you think is the ‘story of the poem.’
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Presents From My Aunts In Pakistan
Mini Task 1 - 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
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.
Mini Task 2 – Summarize this slide
Presents From My Aunts In Pakistan
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 3 – Summarize this slide.
Presents From My Aunts In Pakistan
Mini Task 4 – Stanza 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 highlight or
underline examples of :
• alliteration
• irony
• metaphor
• alienation
• key phrases
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Presents From My Aunts In Pakistan
Mini Task 4a
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 highlight or
underline examples of :
• alliteration
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Presents From My Aunts In Pakistan
Mini Task 4b
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 highlight or
underline examples of :
• irony
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Presents From My Aunts In Pakistan
Mini Task 4c
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 highlight or
underline examples of :
• metaphor
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Presents From My Aunts In Pakistan
Mini Task 4d
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 highlight or
underline examples of :
• alienation
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Presents From My Aunts In Pakistan
Mini Task 4e
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 highlight or
underline examples of :
• key phrases
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Presents From My Aunts In Pakistan
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 and 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.
Mini Task 5 - Summarize this slide.
Mini Task 6 – What does the flame metaphor
mean?
Presents From My Aunts In Pakistan
The Poem ~ Structure & Meaning
My costume clung to me
and I was aflame,
I couldn't rise up out of its fire,
Mini Task 6 – What does the flame
metaphor mean?
She was literally burning up with
embarrassment.
Presents From My Aunts In Pakistan
Mini Task 7 – Stanza 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
Came Skin Lamp metaphor
means.
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Presents From My Aunts In Pakistan
Mini Task 7 – Stanza 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 Came Skin Lamp metaphor means.
The skin belongs on a camel, not a lamp. Likewise she belongs in
English not Pakistani clothes. To transform the camel into a lamp is
cruel and so is transforming her from an English to an Asian girl.
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Presents From My Aunts In Pakistan
Mini Task 8 – Stanza 4a
My mother cherished her jewellery Indian gold, dangling, filigree.
But it was stolen from our car.
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.
Mini Task 8 – Summarize this
slide.
Presents From My Aunts In Pakistan
Mini Task 8 – Stanza 4b
The presents were radiant in my wardrobe.
My aunts requested cardigans
from Marks and Spencers.
Another reference to the colour
and the beauty of the clothes
her Aunts send her…..
…..yet ironically it is boring, dull
M&S cardies they want in
return!
Mini Task 9 – Summarize this
slide.
Presents From My Aunts In Pakistan
Mini Task 10 – Stanza 5 a
My salwar kameez
didn't impress the schoolfriend
who sat on my bed, asked to see
my weekend clothes.
• Write down what you think the poet
means by ‘weekend clothes’.
• How doe these lines reflect the
theme of ‘alienation’ in the poem?
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Presents From My Aunts In Pakistan
Mini Task 10 – Stanza 5 a
My salwar kameez
didn't impress the schoolfriend
who sat on my bed, asked to see
my weekend clothes.
• Write down what you think the poet means by ‘weekend clothes’.
During the week the poet would probably wear her school uniform
most of the time. She could change when she got home but if her
parents expected her to wear her Pakistani clothes she would probably
stay in her uniform. Her ‘weekend clothes’ would be ordinary English
clothes like jeans and a top, not saris or salwar kameeze.
• How doe these lines reflect the theme of ‘alienation’ in the poem?
Her friend would want her to look ‘normal’ which reinforces how forien
or ‘alien’ the presents she gets sent are.
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Presents From My Aunts In Pakistan
Mini Task 11 – Stanza 5 b
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
imagery/metaphor the poet uses
here means.
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Presents From My Aunts In Pakistan
Mini Task 11 – Stanza 5 b
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
imagery the poet uses here means.
The reflections from the tiny mirrors
sewn into the fabric present a
fragmented view of their subject. This
can be seen as a metaphor for her
fragmented cultural identity.
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Presents From My Aunts In Pakistan
Mini Task 12 – Stanza 5 c
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.
Mini Task 12 – Summarize this slide.
Presents From My Aunts In Pakistan
Mini Task 13 – Stanza 6
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 and is remembers her Aunts
wrapping presents, like the ones they send.
The screening would imply that she
comes from a Muslim family, perhaps
another source of conflict for her.
Mini Task 13 – Summarize this slide.
Presents From My Aunts In Pakistan
Mini Task 14 – Stanza 7
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.
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Presents From My Aunts In Pakistan
Mini Task 14 – Stanza 7
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.’
‘of no fixed nationality’
• Explain why you think it is the key .
phrase.
It is really what the whole poem is
about. The girl in the poem does
not know who she is or where she
belongs culturally.
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Presents From My Aunts In Pakistan
Mini Task 15 – Stanza 7
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 her final thought is of a beautiful
part of Pakistan, not of England.
Mini Task 15 – Summarize this slide.
Presents From My Aunts In Pakistan
Mini Task 16 – Structure
• How is the poem structured and composed?
• What is the form of the poem?
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Presents From My Aunts In Pakistan
Mini Task 16b – Structure
• How is the poem structured and composed?
The poem is composed of 7 stanzas with unequal lines in each
stanza, 15, 11, 7, 6, 15, 10 & 5 lines. Line length is also uneven
ranging from 2/3 to 13 syllables. There is only one rhyming line in
the poem so it is written in free verse. Colour imagery is the key
feature of the poem but there are also several examples of
alliteration and metaphor in the poem.
• What is the form of the poem?
As the poet seems to be addressing the reader directly the poem
can be considered a monologue.
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Presents From My Aunts In Pakistan
What The Poet Says About The Poem
Mini Task 17 –
Summarize this slide.
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.
Presents From My Aunts In Pakistan
Assignment
How does Moniza Alvi Use colour imagery and other devices
to make this poem an effective description of a conflict in
cultural identity.
600-800 words by Thurs 5th March.
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