The way Grace Nichols describes the storm shows what it means to her as a Caribbean woman living in England. On the one hand, she emphasises all the destruction that it causes. The wind is 'raging' angrily; it's as if it has come to take revenge for something. She seems to feel sorry for the ancient trees that have been uprooted. All this makes the wind fearful to her, as to any inhabitant of the 'English coast'. But at the same time, to her it is reassuring because it is from 'back home', something old from the past, an ancestral spectre that reminds her that the other part of her life, the Caribbean is still there, still important to whom she is.
The layout of the poem ‘Presents from My Aunts…’ seems to be scattered all over the place. This shows how the girls’ feelings are disoriented, just like her identity. The narrator refers to herself of having ‘no fixed nationality’, meaning she is utterly perplexed as to where she comes from, and this is what she was lacking as a child.
The clothes people wear are important as means of establishing their identity. When the girl in the poem wears the ‘salwaar kameez’ they stick to her in an uncomfortable way. She felt the clothes had fallen onto false skin, meaning the clothes she wore were no means of establish her own identity. The narrator refers to the clothes as a 'costume' at one point. This seems to suggest that they don't feel natural to her. She also says, 'I could never be as lovely as those clothes'. So, the poem may also reflect unhappiness with her self-image, which is quite common in teenagers.
The girl in ‘Presents from my Aunts…’isn’t happy. She 'tried to glimpse myself/ in the miniature glass circles'. She studies her own reflection in the mirror work of the dress. In looking at these mirrors she is looking to try and see who she really is. By looking at so many little mirrors she see’s not one big picture of herself, but many small images and these reflect the way that she has no single, complete identity.
Grace Nichols was perhaps trying hide her roots from the Caribbean. ‘What is the meaning of trees/Falling heavy as whales’. When tree’s fall, their roots are exposed. This shows how the hurricane has come back to remind her that her roots still lie in the Caribbean, despite of whether she still lives there or not. Maybe she doesn’t want to remind herself of the life she was leading there. Grace Nichols probably felt that the hurricane has come to remind her of the other side of her identity. Her experiences and thoughts which had been buried are now exposed. This line is also effective because the huge trees become like whales when the torrential rain that accompanies a hurricane makes the land become almost like a sea.
The layout of the poem ‘Hurricane Hits England’ is disoriented. This shows how Grace Nichols is confused as to why the storm has caused memories of her home to flood back to her. The poem is highly irregular in both line and stanza length, perhaps to suggest the unpredictability of a hurricane.
Certain phrases are echoed:
I am aligning...
I am following...
I am riding...
The echoes create rhythmic patterns, and contribute to the musical and lyrical voice of the poem. They help us to imagine the power of the gods that seem to be part of the hurricane, as if the woman is reciting a spell or a prayer. Maybe Grace Nichols is asking for forgiveness from moving on in life, and forgetting about the other half of her identity.
In lines 27-33 from ‘Presents from my Aunts…’ the girl is looking at her parents' lampshade. It has been made from camel skin. On the one hand she is aware of the cruelty involved. (Killing an animal for a lampshade). On the other hand, it is beautiful. It seems that the skin is thin enough to let light through and in the process it becomes multicolored, just like how she is of mixed-race living in a multi-cultural society. I think we could say that in looking at the lamp she is seeing the beauty of something from her Pakistani culture. At the same time as being captivated by its beauty, she is not entirely at ease with it because she sees some brutality there. This inner conflict is a problem she generally has. She sees the splendor of her Asian heritage but she isn't completely at ease with it. She doesn't feel at ease in the Pakistani outfits her aunts sent her. This stanza continues the ideas, continues the exploration, of somebody trying to understand the two cultures to which she belongs.
Furthermore, this stanza helps the reader to understand what type of child Moniza Alvi was. She seems to be thoughtful and sensitive. She is sensitive in the sense that she values its beauty. She 'marvels' at the colours of the lampshade. This shows a thoughtful character that is able to respond to beauty. On the other hand she is sensitive in that she understands the cruelty involved.
Throughout the ending of the poem ‘Hurricane Hits England’, Grace Nichols asks many questions. The question ‘O why is my heart unchained?’ is much more personal than the others. She is talking specifically about the effect of the hurricane on herself rather than the effect of the hurricane on the landscape. This line aggravates tension, she’s asking herself why she moved on in life by her own free-will, leaving behind her identity, causing this hurricane to bring back memories of her home-land Guyana.
Both poets have written autobiographical poems. My conclusion is that Grace Nichols wrote this poem to keep herself looking back at her roots in Guyana. To keep looking at both worlds of where her identity lies. On the other hand, Moniza Alvi, a sensitive, and thoughtful writer seems to be more confused as to where her identity lies. Such events in her life help her to establish who she is and where she comes from.
By Lubna Khatri
11RK
