“Walekum – a- salaam”
this shows ella`s efforts to fit in with the Islamic culture:
“he’s erm…just been circumcised…”
Ella again attempts to make herself look good to Mr Shah, she tries to show her family are within and worthy enough for the Islamic religion.
No matter what, Ella is not allowing another person that enters her household, who thinks he is better than them and besides that she welcomed him into her home and treats him with respect. Then Mr Shah’s feelings about the family all come out during an incident:
“jungly family of half – breeds!”
Ella does not except this so she decides to express her feelings to but in a more of an uproar and angry attitude:
“who the frig do you think you are coming in here telling me my house isn’t good enough for your daughters”
this shows ella`s rage and protection for her family and brings out the passionate defence of the family. This educates us that besides everything that goes on she loves her family and nothings coming between them.
The most we see of Sajit is mostly humorous, he brings out the comedy but he is also strange in ways which don’t seem normal for an average child of his age. Sajits character is implied as very dirty and greasy:
“use the swarfega on him”
Sajit is always itching and he always has the same coat on which he stays in all night and day which stinks and is greasy.
Sajit gets on with his brother Abdul, who understands him well. During the play we see this:
“go on saj, tell us”
this shows that Abduls and Sajits relationship is a good one because Sajits other brothers don`t talk to him in such away and are not very interested in him but abdul shows interest in him and looks out for him.
The Khans have 6 sons, so Ella finds it hard to keep track of them. George is furious when he finds out his youngest son Sajit has not had his penis circumcised he is ashamed of his family:
“He bloody make a show of me. All your family always make a show of me.”
George now disowns his family by saying this, because he claims them to be Ella’s children not “our” children.
Ella and Annie try to protect Sajit by claiming all six of them were done:
“cause they were all done all six of them.”
Ella does not get away with trying lie/protect Sajit.
This again brings out the culture clash when Ella reckons there’s no need to bother with it now at his age. George then reacts very offensively:
“you know nothing about my religion, you no bloody care your children have no god.”
Also:
“your son no Muslim with this thing, when he die he go straight to hell.”
This shows us George trying to say there is a lack of religion in white people and he is not happy that Ella is not really bothered about Sajit getting circumcised. George again is forcing his religion on his son because Sajit does not want this. George also tells Sajit that him having his foreskin is dirty and not their religion he also tells him that he will buy him a nice watch which tells the time in Arabic. This watch is used as a dramatic device throughout the play, again bringing out the culture clash and Georges lack of understanding.
George is very interested in the war between India and Pakistan. George is worried about his family in Azad Kashmir. Sometimes to deliberately wind up Ella he says he will send for his wife in Pakistan. Ella sometimes takes it light heartedly:
“first wife always treat second wife like sister.”
This is also an example of George’s humour which would make the audience laugh, but also shows that George is a bigamist.
George constantly listens to the radio to listen out for news on the war, which is a device to keep the audience informed.
Ella suddenly becomes suspicious about something George says:
“he have two daughters you know same age as Abdul and Tariq.”
This instantly makes Ella think George is about to arrange a marriage for Abdul and Tariq and she is not wrong:
“Sunday, we celebrate engagement.”
George again goes behind his children’s back and arranges another marriage again forcing a marriage upon his sons.
George is not interested in his wife’s opinion or his sons. They have no choice:
“why I need to tell you my bloody business. Is my decision no yours. Or bloody kid.”
This shows Georges attitude towards women and his role as a father – “am the father you’re the child you do as I say.”
Ella and George have an older son, Nazir who walked out on his arranged marriage. But obviously George has not learnt from that mistake. George now classes Nazir as dead.
“how many time I tell you he dead.”
George’s power over his family is very strong and everything he says goes, which results in the build up of the anger and tension in the Khan household.
There are a lot of dramatic devices throughout this play; Sajits coat is one of them which is a very effective device because it has the audience also wondering why. Sajit constantly has his coat on and no–one knows why. This coat is filthy and greasy and no matter what he does not take it off, he even sleeps in it:
“his coat on again last night.”
Sajit is not going to take that coat of so he is seen to his family as dirty.
Sajit only really talks to his brother Abdul and when they have a one to one conversation Sajit lets us into why he wears the coat:
“when it’s all done up…I’m not there… I don’t have to listen to anyone arguing and shouting at me… is that mad Abdul?”
Sajit and Abduls relationship is very close and the audience then realize that Sajits parker is his protection from the arguments and fights. We see Sajit as a comic character throughout the play up until this point when he opens up to Abdul and the audience see him in a different light.
After the visit from Mr.shah an argument happens between Ella and George, George then lashes out at Ella. Sajit takes of his coat and starts to hit George with it:
“SAJIT takes off his coat, runs over, and starts to hit GEORGE with it.”
The coat is used as a device to protect him and his mum. The coat is symbolic for protection. Up until this point Sajit had never taken his coat of this shows a change in his character.
Another dramatic device is how most of the scenes end on humour, which is a good way to keep the audience entertained but also adds tension and suspense. Although the scene may be serious it still ends in humour. Take the last scene for example everything was so tense and serious and kept the audience feeling upset and angry. Then Abdul and Sajit have a serious and loving conversation which ends the scene again with humour:
“can I have another look at our Saleem`s model?”
By ending the play like this leaves the audience feeling relief and with a smile on there face, also feeling secure for the family knowing that things are going to be okay. But they could also leave questioning what’s going to happen in the future for the family? What’s going to happen between George and Ella? And so on.
Another way the scenes end is on a serious and tense atmosphere:
“He beat me up! The Bastard beat me up. I won’t ever forgive him for that, not ever. I hope he fucking well dies.”
This shows the angry and tense mood behind all the laughter and again a dramatic way to end the scene.
Act two, ends on a bit of a cliff hanger, after a very violent argument leaving the audience entertained in a sad and anxious way:
“GEORGE storms out leaving ELLA crying. SAJIT watches ELLA.”
Language plays a big part in the humour of East is East. George adapts the English colloquial language. His style of talking is a combination of two cultures, northern dialect with an Indian accent:
“I tell you stupy, why you no listen. Your son bloody got it.”
George uses the word bloody with his Indian accent this is an example of his style of speech and also shows how he doesn’t fit into the British culture. Another example of George’s style of English colloquial language is:
“this boy always bloody belkuf.”
In a way this educates the audience about George’s language but mainly humours them.
The sharp and straight forward language between the siblings also adds to the humour, mainly the aggressive way they talk to each other:
“get lost twitch!”
This shows the way most of them are towards Sajit. Also:
“what I did or didn’t do has got fuck all to do with you saleem.”
Again an example of the aggressive tone the siblings have towards each other, maybe this is because they don’t agree with something to do with the culture it could be the Islam culture or the British culture.
They all have a nickname for George which is Genghis who was an evil man that took over the world and they have a nickname for Meneer which is Ghandi, Ghandi is an opposite of Genghis – a peaceful, political leader in India.
Besides the fact that they talk to each other like dirt, they also have a laugh:
“the OTHERS start to laugh.”
This shows there relationship is mainly based on humour and again:
“(mimicking GEORGE). ‘hey you move baster, I bloody kill you!’”
This shows that they don’t think very highly of George also there disrespect for George.
One of the key themes in East is East is the domestic violence. George pretty much runs the show and no-one else in the family is entitled to put forward their opinion. Ella’s determination to protect her children comes between her and George:
“I’m not gonna stand by and let you crush them one by one because of your pig bloody ignorance.”
George does not appreciate this and retaliates by beating and kicking her. At that time Sajit is watching through the window. This may affect Sajit, he seems to be there all the time something bad happens, which brings us back to why he wears his parka. (He is a device as he tells the others.)
After Ella had just been beaten up by George she still went on to do her everyday routines and tries to brush it aside, this shows she is a strong character.
Saleem tries to stand up to his dad for his brothers. He tries to tell his dad that he doesn’t think that Abdul and Tariq want to get married. This starts up an argument:
“GEORGE grabs him and pushes him on the ground and kicks and slaps him.”
Again more domestic violence when someone tells George the truth or something he doesn’t want to hear he always retaliates by abusing them verbally or physically. Another example of domestic violence in the khan household is again where Ella stands up for her family:
“Who’s gonna get Meenah? Someone with double glazing and a detached house!”
This is a biting comment where Ella expresses her feelings about the way George sells of his children. Wealth is more important to him. He retaliates again by:
“Pushes her to the floor, he starts to hit her.”
George hits Ella again for standing up for what she believes is right, which to George is that women don’t have a say and must stay out of his business.
Another key theme in East is East is the clash of cultures or cultural identity. The children are not sure what culture they belong to is it the British culture or the Pakistani culture? This comes out through out the play. George forces his religion upon his children, Ella doesn’t: which has more of an effect. They are also disrespectful to the culture in a way they are racist:
“I hate Paki music”
And also:
“Paki enough when you want feeding aren’t you?”
This shows the culture clash between both cultures. The use of the word ‘Paki’ shows there disrespect to there dads culture and is also in a way racist because if somebody out of there culture called them a ‘paki’ it would be classified as racist , so calling each other ‘paki’ shows they have no respect for them selves or people of that culture. Ella is also stuck in the middle of the cultures:
“your in the middle Ella, you have to keep your head down.”
Annie realises that Ella is in the middle and tries to advice her on what to do.
In act 2 the children discuss what race they are. They too are confused:
“I thought we were Anglo-Indian.”
This shows there confusion of what race they are, which gives the audience an insight into the life of a dual-heritage family.
During an argument in the household between George and Saleem, Saleem puts forward his point with where he stands in the culture clash:
“I’m not Pakistani, I was born here, I speak English, not Urdu.”
This is a very powerful comment, which lets George know where Saleem stands within the cultures. This also shows the audience the tension within the household to do with the culture clash/identity.
Bradford has a high population of Asians and George sees it as a better place than Salford, Salford is on the west and Bradford is on the east, East Pakistan is where George is from. Bradford is also known as ‘Bradistan’, that is where George goes to find a potential wife for Abdul and Tariq.
Finally, by reading this play we have been educated and entertained. Educated by being taught about human life that we may not have known about through our own life’s such as:
Domestic violence, Dual-heritage, Culture clash, Racism and Arranged marriage. This also puts the audience in somebody else’s shoes and may have made them go back and look at there own family and also on how they treat people not realising how it affects them.
The play brings you through a range of emotions at times you feel sad and angry and at times you feel happy and joyful. The audience could leave the theatre upset or happy, they could either be hoping for the best for the family and happy that the play ended with a slight bit of humour or they could leave feeling sorry for the family and wondering/questioning what will happen next.
The play entertained us through certain characters which were classed as comic characters such as: George and Sajit. Sajit and George both entertained us and made us laugh but were both also serious characters which is a good device. Sajit was a character that everyone felt sympathy for and probably had the audience wanting to take him home with them. He was also a comic character, he had the audience in laughter. George also had a funny sense of humour but the audience also hated him and at one time had sympathy for him.This again brings us back to the range of emotions the audience may have felt.
When I read the play my emotions where going back and forward throughout. I left questioning the play and also on a mixture of emotions. Questions such as:
Where will it go from here?
Will George come back? Will the family ever be happy? Were all running through my head and I am sure they were going through other peoples minds to. I was happy and grateful to know that I did not have to go home to something like that but it also made me aware of what goes on in other people’s households. In a way I think this play ends on a cliff-hanger because I left questioning, what was going to happen in the future, for the family and I will not know unless there is a East is East 2.