The selective use of language not only identified Ezekiel’s roller-coaster of emotions but also unveils his observations concerning the villagers. Although the neighbours are not clearly analysed individually, this simply intensifies the effect Ezekiel has on the reader through the use of the pronoun “they”. Further reinforcement is clear through the development of a simile comparing the villagers to “Swarms of flies”, thus highlighting the irony, as Ezekiel uses an insect’s image to describe the people’s reaction to an invertebrate’s sting. Through a combination of tone, alliteration, sound and repetition, Ezekiel adds emphasis to his judgements. It became thought-provoking that Ezekiel took different tones for different aspects of the event. A prime example of this is pinpointed through Ezekiel’s supernatural tone as he “buzzed the name of god one hundred times.” As the poem developed further, the tone transformed, displaying a strong factual attitude, narrating the incident as it unfolded:
“I watched the holy man perform his rites.” As the poem, ‘Night of the Scorpion’ drew to a close, the dialect converted to admiration of Ezekiel’s mother, thus displaying a strong bond as he used her own vocabulary thanking “god the scorpion picked on me and spared my children.” Ezekiel displayed biased use of language at points throughout the poem concerning his mother and fellow villagers.
The people belong to a culture, which gives them a sense of community. This is displayed in the poem by the way the poet uses the pronoun “they”. This suggests that Ezekiel wanted the reader to think that of the villagers’ as all the same and therefore have similar reactions and opinions. However, irony surfaces, as previously stated within the poem suggestions indicate differing opinions concerning the scorpion’s sting.
The poet’s mother is in a life-threatening situation, as scorpion stings can kill. However, she does not display signs of unease, suggesting faith within the religion as followed by fellow villagers. On the other hand, a difference in beliefs between the mother and father surfaces as the father fears for his wife’s life. The underlying hint suggests that his father the “sceptic” was not born into the corresponding religion and was merely married into it.
The villagers and mother are alike. This is uncovered through the expressed “peace of understanding” of the sting, knowing there is nothing they can do except prey. The mother showed signs of her dedication to her religion thanking “god” after she had been stung. Ezekiel’s mother does not appear angry at the scorpion, however his father’s reaction is one of contradiction, displaying disrespect for the invertebrate.
The poet’s mother shows modesty, as she is not bothered what happens to her as long as her children are safe and Ezekiel respects his mother for this. However, the poet resents his father, as he seems to make the situation worse, and “even poured a little paraffin upon the bitten toe and put a match to it.” The poet uses alliteration to describe the reactions of what his mother is going through and only describes his father with just one-word answers such as “rationalist”. This highlighted a further difference between that of Ezekiel’s mother and father.
There is only one real similarity between the mother and father and that appears to be one of emotional turmoil experienced throughout the ordeal. The father is going through pain at the sight of watching his wife reaction to the sting, while the wife is going through the same because of the actual sting.
Moniza Alvi is presented as a confused, fashionable teenage girl, who is of ethnic origin.
“My salwar kameez didn’t impress the school friend.”
The poem has a deeper meaning that merely receiving unwanted gifts, Moniza Alvi is attempting to express her difficulties combining her native origin and her current country of residence. Moniza Alvi uses descriptive language to help the reader envisage the complications encountered when growing up “half English ”in a different country to that of Pakistan. Moniza Alvi expresses her concerns regarding the impossibility of contrasting two different cultures and feels a torn feeling “an alien” wearing her aunts “apple-green sari”. Moniza Alvi desperately battles with her conscious trying not to appear ungrateful and as a direct result feels, she does not belong entirely to one of the two cultures. However, despite her efforts trying not to seem unappreciative, she still wants her parents “camel-skin lamp”.
Moniza Alvi compares herself to never being as “lovely as” the clothes sent to her by her aunts, thus allowing the reader to feel her distress as she continual receives extravagant gifts such as “embossed slippers” and “glass bangles”, which have been sent by her aunts. Even though Moniza Alvi does not feel she fits in when wearing them, she thinks that it is her duty to follow Pakistan’s traditions. This allows the reader to believe that if Moniza Alvi had the chance she would wear “denim and corduroy”. However, even though she longs for “denim and corduroy” and feels that the clothes on her are like "fire", she admires them. She is expressing a pride in her heritage and yet feels that she cannot live that heritage.
Moniza Alvi’s aunts reflect the Pakistan culture through descriptive language of traditional clothing including an “apple-green sari”. They seem to have different fashion senses but astonishingly continually “request cardigans from Marks and Spencers”. It is evident at this point that Moniza Alvi and her aunts do not share similar beliefs in terms of gratitude as Moniza Alvi never appears to request anything from Pakistan. The Aunts don’t think England has any religious value’s, and don’t believe Moniza Alvi is being taught about her heritage and religion. They are frightened that Moniza Alvi will forget her religion and this is why they keep sending her clothes to remind her of where she came from and also want her to grow up to be a proper Pakistan woman. “They send me a salwar kameez” this is a loose pair of trousers and tunic traditionally worn by Pakistan woman. The aunts represent their culture by the gifts they sent to Moniza Alvi. They hope for Moniza Alvi to came back to her home country when the conflict is over and return to wearing traditional Pakistan clothing and live out a normal Pakistan life.
Presents from my Aunts in Pakistan is organised into stanzas of varying length each of which concentrate on different points of contrast between the two cultures. It is written in free verse with no rhyme set. While Night of the scorpion is also organised into stanza’s and is free verse however the poem is split into two parts, the first part is the scorpions bite and the reaction of the villagers while the second part is the reaction of the mother. Throughout the duration of the poem Presents from Aunts in Pakistan, it is clear that the speaker has no clear sense of identity. “
I admired the mirror-work, tried to glimpse myself in the miniature glass circles.” This is a similarity, as in Night of the Scorpion Ezekiel also has no sense of identity, as he is just the narrator. In Present from my Aunts in Pakistan, the presents from her aunts also represent how she feels emotionally about the reality of the Pakistani culture. This is another similarity between the poems as in Night of the scorpion Ezekiel mirrors the villagers as “swarms of flies”
In Presents from my Aunts in Pakistan Moniza Alvi uses bright colours to describe the gifts from her aunts “. Glistening like an orange split open” is used to describe the salwar kameez. This makes the poem interesting and effective. While in Night of the Scorpion Ezekiel uses alliteration to emphasise important parts of the poem “Parting with his poison.”
One main similarity about the poems is both of the people are retelling a story. This is suggested by the way both poems use “I” allot. Night of the scorpion is retelling the story about when his mother was stung by a scorpion. In Presents from my Aunts in Pakistan, Moniza Ali is retelling the story of how she had come to England. This is also shown how the poems remember odd details like the “tin boat” in Present from my aunts in Pakistan I watched the flame feeding on my mother”.
In conclusion both poems had there own unique way of getting across there points, they both made the reader think extremely hard on matters such as different cultures and traditions. Night of the Scorpion was easier to understand even though the title was misleading, nevertheless Presents from my Aunts in Pakistan showed how hard it was to have been growing up in England and not knowing which culture, you fitted into. I have learned from Presents from my Aunts in Pakistan that it is important to know where come from, which I think Moniza Alvi was lacking as a child. From Night of the Scorpion I’ve learned that having faith can help you get through the most serious of problems even if there life threatening. Over all I think my favourite poem out of the two must be Night of the Scorpion, as I think it has an excellent morel and gets it across really well. I also like Night of the Scorpion because it make’s you think about the poem long after you have read it!
