The contrast between the lifestyles of the two characters is evident from the beginning of the second verse.
‘ You lay on a silken pillow
I lay on an attic cot.
That’s the way it should be, you said.
That’s the poor girls lot.’
You can see that there is a great difference between a ‘silken pillow’ and andattic cot’. A cot would have been very hard, narrow and uncomfortable. The fact she sleeps in an attic suggests her mistress wanted her out of the way away from family and guests.
It sounds as if the employer held the view that people were destined to be in a certain social class, which is why the lady refers to "the poor girl's lot", possibly implying that there was nothing she could do about it. Ironically Charlotte is doing something by leaving the country.
Charlotte's employer would be considered an arrogant and selfish woman if she behaved like this today but she would have taken all of Charlotte's services for granted at the time and no one would have thought badly of her. The rhyming pattern for the second verse is A,B,C,B,D,D
The third stanza tells us how Charlotte had to empty ‘the chamber pot’. The upper class used a chamber pot instead of going to the toilet at night, so it would have been Charlotte’s job to empty the contents in the morning. Charlotte’s employer clearly felt it her duty to 'educate' her.
“The rich man earns his castle, you said,
the poor deserve the gate.”
This is a reference to a popular hymn ‘All Things Bright and Beautiful’. This verse is usually omitted nowadays because of its undemocratic sentiments.
There is an entire social attitude attached to this comment. The wealthy and privileged believed that they were by birth deserving of the wealth, possessions and position that they inherited, and that in some way they had 'earned' these things. They believed equally of the poor that they 'deserved' their miserable circumstances. These lines also refer to the story of Lazarus in the Bible. Lazarus spent his life begging at a rich man's gate but went to heaven, whilst the rich man went to hell.
In this verse, Charlotte describes what seems to have been the most humiliating of her work experiences, showing 'respect' to her social superiors. And it is in this verse that she turns the tables on her employer.
“But I’ll never say ‘sir’
Or ‘thank you ma‘am’”
Charlotte had to call upper class men 'sir' and women 'ma'am', and she had to curtsey to show respect and to be mindful of her own lower status, probably when she opened the door to them. Now she will "never" have to address anyone in this way again. This shows an attitude of determination and a conviction that she has changed her life for good.
A defiant note creeps into Charlotte's song now.
“You can bake your bread
and make your bed
and answer your own front door.”
This suggests that Charlotte's employer will now have to do her own work, and shows that the song is clearly a revenge fantasy.
The real employer would simply have hired a new girl. So this shows signs of naivety on Charlotte’s behalf. There is an air of finality in the things Charlotte lists here concerning her work, and the use of the present tense, indicates a completed action. In this fourth verse, she shows that she has really finished with her employer, and sees her departure from the house as a sort of revenge. The rhyming pattern for the fourth verse is A,B,C,D,D,C
At the beginning of the fifth and final verse she repeats the phrase "I've..." three times.
“I've cleaned your plate
and I've cleaned your house
and I've cleaned the clothes you wore.”
On the one hand this tells us that these were the things Charlotte had to do for years for her employer, but the use of the present tense suggests also that she has now done them for good. This part of her life is finished.
As if she were actually addressing her employer, she says,
“But now you're on your own, my dear.
I won't be there any more.”
The use of 'my dear' in the above line is something that a servant would never do in real life. Charlotte imagines that her employer was very dependent on her, and the tone Charlotte uses here is triumphant. She obviously derives a great deal of satisfaction at the idea of her employer having to do all her own work.
Turning to her own life and the gratification of doing the things she was deprived of during her employment, she relishes the following:
“And I'll eat when I please
and I'll sleep where I please
And you can open your own front door.”
When we look back at the rest of the song, we can see that the things that annoyed Charlotte the most and encroached on her personal freedom and comfort were her hard bed, her lack of sleep and the fact that she was forced to admit an inferiority that she does not feel. The rhyming pattern for the fifth verse is A,B,C,D,C,E,E
There are several themes to this poem. We could mention class prejudice, or the desire for freedom. It speaks of the desire to escape the known bad in exchange for a possible future.
Charlotte O’Neil’s song is about a girl moving from Britain to another country in search of a better life. In contrast ‘Presents from my Aunts in Pakistan’ is about a girl who moved from Pakistan to Britain when she was little. She is reflects back on her thoughts and feeling towards her native land.
The poem ‘Presents from my aunts in Pakistan’ is written by Moniza Alvi and is set in modern times. Although born in Pakistan, Moniza Alvi was brought up in England, the daughter of a Pakistani father and an English mother. This poem explores the dilemma of divided culture; divided families and a 'self' that feels the pull of somewhere else. The poem itself contains 7 stanzas and is written in free verse meaning there’s a number of loosely arranged phrases. The poem is quite disjointed and the lengths of the sentences continuously vary. The poem doesn’t contain a rhyming pattern.
In the first stanza Alvi describes the gifts that her pakastani aunts have sent her.
“ They sent me salwaz Kameez
Peacock blue…
Glistening like an orange split open
Embossed slippers, gold and black.”
Moniza describes the clothes as being exotic, bright and beautiful. This suggests she’s intrigued and fascinated by these garments but we can see how different they are to most British clothes. In England, she would have felt "alien" when she wears them, and the colours would make her conspicuous, as the English do not wear many brightly coloured clothes.
In the second stanza although grateful for these gifts we can see how Moniza feels awkward wearing these unique clothes, feeling that ‘denim and corduroy’ would be more appropriate.
“I could never be as lovely
As those clothes- I longed
For denim and corduroy.”
She "longs" for denim and corduroy, indicating the English side of her nature but we learn later on she also wants the very Pakistani camel skin lamp that her parents have.
Lines 15 - 25 reveal the effect on the speaker of the conflict occasioned by the gifts. The "satin silken" tops are things of beauty but she says she was "alien in the sitting-room" when trying them on, probably indicating that the sitting room is in England and they look too foreign there. She also feels slightly intimidated by the gorgeous clothes, saying she: ‘could never be as lovely as those clothes’
The clothes make the speaker embarrassed so that she blushes:
“My costume clung to me
and I was aflame.
I couldn't rise up out of its fire,”
Moniza Alvi turns this metaphor around in the next line to make a comment on the relative colourlessness of the English. Her own half-English heritage makes such display seem excessive, whereas her presumably fully Pakistani Aunt Jamila seems perfectly natural in them.
Moniza seems slightly confused and doesn’t know what to think, she feels uncomfortable being Pakistani in this British society. She feels different but can’t help it. The term ‘half-English’ suggests she doesn’t feel as if she’s ‘properly’ English and on the other hand she doesn’t feel like a ‘proper Pakistani. This shows a sense of insecurity and uncertainty on Moniza’s behalf.
The third stanza doesn’t seem to relate to the rest of the poem. This shows that the poet is writing in quite a childish manner changing from one memory to another. It talks about the poet wanting her parents Pakistani camel skin lamp. Again Moniza describes the light in lots of detail which her curiosity and amazement at these unordinary goods.
In the fourth stanza Moniza tells us hoe her Pakistani clothes stand out to her normal conventional English clothes
“The presents were radiant in my wardrobe.”
Again this emphasises how colourful and special these garments are. She tells us how her English mother cherished her Indian jewellery until it was stolen which shows how important the Asian culture is to the family. The aunts, the senders of the beautiful clothes, ironically want boring Marks and Spencer’s cardigans in return.
“My aunts requested cardigans
From Marks and Spencer.”
The fifth stanza tells us that Moniza’s school friend is unimpressed by her Pakistani clothes.
“My salwar Kameez
Didn’t impress the school friend
Who sat on my bed, asked to see?
My weekend clothes.”
This shows that Moniza had experienced an education unlike Charlotte O’Neil who would have come from a very poor background. It also shows that the school friend doesn’t seem willing to accept things which are different and from other culture’s. This emphasises how difficult life would have been for Charlotte.
The tiny mirrors sewn onto the material seem to be a way of recreating herself in the country she left. She tries to recall her parent's story of her journey to England by boat and uses photographs to help her visualise her birthplace. The conflict in Pakistan brings it alive via newspapers. Sometimes the mirrors reveal her aunts and how they live and finally herself, "of no fixed nationality", actually in Pakistan looking at the famous Shalimar Gardens.
“ I pictured my
Birthplace
From fifties photographs.”
The gifts encourage the speaker to think of her family's journey to England and to try to picture her birthplace which she doesn't remember. Pakistan is made more real by news of wars there and the speaker tries to imagine returning to a place, which is not quite home.
Much of the English background in the poem is assumed but generally it seems dull and safe compared with the vibrant and violent Pakistan. It is all very well, the poem suggests, for people from different countries to admire what is different there, but what if you have both sets of desires within yourself?
Beyond the story of the presents and the speaker's reactions to them lies the dilemma of many people who have no certain identity or nationality. While they may grow up in one country, family and other links mean they never lose the impressions and reality of their country of birth.
