Poetry From Other Cultures

Compare and contrast The Fat Black Woman Goes Shopping with Presents from my Aunt in Pakistan. How do the two poets convey their feelings about being outsiders in Britain?

The poets have written about the subject which is clothes, they have used this to symbolise how different races & religions in different societies have different styles. In “The Fat Black Woman goes shopping” it tells us how she doesn’t fit in because she cannot find “accommodating clothes” that fit her and are to her liking. She also talks about the way “de pretty face sales gals” react to her being a larger size than the rest of them and how she feels aggravated because the fashion stores she wants to shop in do not have “soft and bright and billowing” clothes that she wants and searches for.

On the other hand the poem “Presents from my Aunt in Pakistan” is showing how she feels that she doesn’t deserve to be in the clothes her Aunt has sent over to her, as it makes her feel uncomfortable because she “longed for denim and corduroy.” Also the expectations that are upon her having to wear the clothes are leading her into that uncomfortable feeling she felt because it is making her feel pressured and embarrassed “…and I was aflame,” because she is so used to the English cultured clothing rather than her Pakistan clothing that is to conspicuous and tight “My costume clung to me…” making her stand out to her family who may be watching her try on her new clothing.

Both poems use clothes as a metaphor for there attitude to belonging to two different cultures. Even though they both use clothing they are shown in different ways. In the “Fat Black Woman goes shopping” she seems to not fit in with everything around her. The environment, people and clothing all seem to repel to her because it’s not what she wants or is used to.

In the poem “Presents from my Aunt” the message is about clothing but it is explained and presented in a different way.

The message of the poem “Presents from My Aunt” is ...

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In the poem “Presents from my Aunt” the message is about clothing but it is explained and presented in a different way.

The message of the poem “Presents from My Aunt” is the narrator feels that she belongs neither in Britain or Pakistan but feels that she can’t show her Pakistan background and feel like she fits in British culture. and the poet has shown us that by using particular language differences “My salwar kameez didn’t impress the school friend who sat on my bed” this shows that because of her friends not liking her clothing from Pakistan that she doesn’t belong in Britain and that what she has to offer is not good enough in the culture in Britain. She feels like she has no fixed culture, that she does not fit in with either culture “I was there – of no fixed nationality” this creates sympathy for her because it makes her sound like she is lonely.

It’s all about not being able to feel comfortable, not just in England where she is living now but in Pakistan where she comes from.

The message of “Fat Black Woman goes shopping” is that she does not fit in and the clothing is a metaphor to show that she, the narrator, feels like she does not fit in to British culture “in search of accommodating clothes” shows that she is looking for clothing that fits and that she is looking for somewhere she’ll fit in and be accepted.

The languages in the two poems are different in that the language in the “Presents from my Aunt” is very formal and is written in English language. Where as ‘The Fat Black Woman goes shopping’ is not in formal language and is deliberately using Swahili/Yoruba language. The effect of this is the fat black woman is proud of her culture and the way she has been brought up and the other poem is the opposite in which she feels that she is stuck between the cultures she is.

I feel that “The Fat Black Woman Goes Shopping” is the better poem out of the two in the way the language is used. She has written it in her cultural language and the way she has done this makes it funny, and because it has humour in it, it will be the one that I remember the most. Her personality is the one out of the two poems that come across the most because I feel that the girl out of “Presents from my Aunt” is confused with who she is; where as the Guyanese Black woman knows exactly who she is because she is proud of her background, culture and how she is different among people in Britain.

By Aaron Jenkins