George Khan is a Pakistani immigrant. George left his wife in Pakistan, when he moved to England. Soon after he moved to England he met and married Ella. The couple have 7 children and they own the local fish and chip shop. Although George moved to England, his desire for the family to strictly live by Islamic and Pakistani customs is very strong. He believes that their way of life is much better than the way that the English people live. George cannot see that the children may be right with what they are thinking, he still believes that what he says is right for everyone, and nothing will change his mind.
All George’s children see themselves as being fully English. They realise that their roots are Pakistani but they do not want to live their life by this culture. They don’t criticize the way that George wants them to live but they d go behind his back so that they can live an English life. The way that they see it is that they have got an English mother, England is where they have grown up, they all speak the English language and all of their surroundings are English. They cannot understand why they should have to live a life that is so different to all of their friends and neighbours, yet be expected to fit in with these people.
Meenah is the only daughter. She is a tomboy who would prefer to be outside playing football rather than staying in the house cleaning and cooking, which is what he father thinks that she should be doing. George believes that Meenah’s behaviour is unacceptable for a girl because it goes against his culture despite them being surrounded by Western culture. He cannot even accept the school uniform that Meenah has to wear. He thinks that it is indecent and that the skirt is too short even though most other people would see the length as an appropriate length, if not too long, for a teenage girl to wear.
The sons of the family are all extremely different. They have different views on religion and culture and their outlooks on life are so different that you would not think tat they have been raised by the same people. The youngest, Sajid, does not have an influence on the house and the way that it is ran. He just stands by and watches the arguments and conflicts that occur within the house. He does not want to get involved in the arguments so he does what his father tells him to do. This is only when he is around. When his father goes out he rebels as much as the other children in the family but his father does not notice what he does in the same way that he notices and punishes the older children in the family.
Maneer is a strict Muslim who will do exactly what his father tells him to do. When he is loyal to his brothers, over the 2 arranged marriages, his father turns against him and beats him up. He wants his father to be proud of him for doing as he says but, at the same time he will not get his brothers into trouble. Although George use violence towards Maneer to get what he wants, Maneer will not retaliate against his father. By doing what his father wants him to do Maneer thinks that he will gain respect from his father but from the way George treats Maneer it is obvious that this is not the case.
We are shown a lot about identity in East is East. We see that George want to choose who his children are and what they are like as people. The children want to be able to live their own life and find their identity. They think that the only way that they are going to be able to do this is by going against what their father says. If they turn against him he might decide that they are adults and that they should be able to choose the way that they live. If George allows them to do this they will not be living their life in the way that he wants them to but it will be better for him because they will then give him the respect that he wants.
The poem ‘Presents from my aunts in Pakistan’ talks about the same issues of finding your identity whilst living a multicultural life. The problem in this poem is one person living in a country with beliefs and a culture that is not the same as what she has been brought up surrounded by. This poem is an autobiographical account helping us to understand the difficulty of trying to fit in surrounded by people who do not live the same kind of life as what you do. The author tells us that she was born in Pakistan but moved to England shortly after she was born. Although she doesn’t remember he homeland she is adamant that she does not want to forget what her homeland was like. She does not want to desert the cultural beliefs of Pakistan. She has grown up with Anglican culture all around her but she still has the desire to live her life the Pakistani way. She recalls her journey and tells us about what she has been shown by her parents. The poem starts with about how she receives presents in the form of clothes. The clothes are from her Aunts. Because he aunts are from Pakistan the design of the clothes are very different and nothing like what you can buy, or see people wearing in England. She thinks that the clothes are amazing but at the same time intimidating. She loves the look and feel of the clothes but she does not think that she is worthy enough to wear them. She feels that her beauty doesn’t match up to that of the clothes that she is expected to wear.
“I could never be as lovely as those clothes”
She is embarrassed by the clothes because she feels as though she is English so she should be wearing the English clothes like denim or corduroy although she really does like the clothes. In stanza 4 we see the intermingling of cultures more that in the rest of the poem. She is showing both sides of her culture and how she feels torn between where she is living and where she was originally from. The layout of the poem can also show us a small amount about how she feels. Most poems are in a straight line down the left hand side of the page but this poem is different. At various parts of the poem the lines are indented by different amounts. This gives us the feeling that she cannot stay within one culture and she the way that she thinks changes a lot. She feels as though she doesn’t belong anywhere. She wants to fit in with the people around her but at the same time she wants to go back to her homeland and fit in with all of the people who live their.
The poem ‘Search for my tongue’ is different from ‘Presents from my aunts in Pakistan’ in the way that the person is not trying to fit in with the way that she looks but the language that she speaks. This poem is very unusual because it is written in 2 languages. This makes it easier for us to see how much the author is confused. When she says
“I have lost my tongue”
she does not literally mean that she has lost her tongue but she has lost her native language. She was from India and spoke Gujurati but since moving to England she feels as though she is forgetting everything that she had learnt about India. She does not want English to become her first language but for it to be her second language whilst Gujarati continues to be her native language. She feels that both of the languages are important to her but when she is speaking Gujurati she feels that she has found her true identity.
I think that the medium that best deals with the issues of identity more successfully is the film ‘East is East’. There are number of reasons for my decision. The main reason is that when you are watching people in their lives you can relate to how they are feeling and you can think about how you have felt when you have felt as though you do not fit in with the people that you are surrounded by. It does not necessarily mean that you are in the same situation as in the film but if you are a child who is surrounded by adults you may feel uncomfortable and do something that will make you feel better. This is what the children want to do. They want to be in a situation where they do not feel surrounded by the unfamiliar. I think that it is much easier to relate to East is East because in the poem Presents from my aunt in Pakistan the girl wants to be different by living her life the Pakistani way. I think that most people would rather be in a familiar environment and feel as though they are the same as all of the people that they know.
