Narrative essay 1
Tanvi Dattani 0C Narrative Essay - Life changing fire The well sparkled in the moonlight. The bucket was heavy, but that compensated for the hard and tiring work I had done in the factory. The water was cool on my lips which was contradicted the heat in the shack. I closed my eyes, and heaved a sigh. Sheila once told me how she dreamed of one day going to Mumbai to go to study and making her parents proud. She always wondered if her parents were alive, they would be proud of her or not. This thought never left my mind. At the end of the bucket, the magical moment of freedom will be lost and back in the shack again. 'BOOOOOOMM!' the peace of the night was broken, pandemonium, pieces flying everywhere. The grandiose flames rose up, lay a beast within the earth, accompanied by an aura of smoke. Before I knew it the smoke encompassed me, like a tornado. I couldn't see, I couldn't breathe, I ran, ran far away, ran away from this lunacy. Running, running for my life but then I stopped. Sheila! My fear had vanished. I lost all sensation. I froze. I turned and ran towards the scorching conflagration. I ran towards the ferocious beast of fire and grime. Sheila, Sheila, Sheila. That was the only thought in my mind. The deafening noise of crackers, which was the only thing I could hear, seemed to roar in my ear. The fire stood like an unbreakable wall between Sheila and me. I
Poetry from other cultures
Poetry from other cultures Compare and contrast the notions of culture and identify in 'Half-caste' by John Agard and 'Presents from my Aunts in Pakistan' by Moniza Alvi. The poems I have chosen to analyse are 'Half-Caste' by John Agard and 'Presents from my aunts in Pakistan' by Moniza Alvi. I have decided to focus on these poems because I believe they project strong messages and discuss the issues of identities and mixed race. Furthermore, both poems are autobiographical and the poets are from different cultures to each other. As readers, it is very interesting to understand their different views about mixed race backgrounds as we are from a different culture to them. John Agard is a respected Caribbean poet who has won the Paul Hamlyn Award in 1997. On the other hand, Moniza Alvi was born in Pakistan and has achieved the Poetry Business Prize in 1991. Both poets confess the difficulties of living in different cultures and not knowing their fixed nationality. John Agard was born on 21 June 1949 in Guyana. His mother was white and Portuguese but his father was a black Englishman, therefore making him half-caste. He began to write poems at the age of sixteen and many were published in the school magazine. In the 1970's he moved to England where he not only progressed to become a literary poet but also moved on to develop into a performing poet. From there, he has
