Similarly Moniza Alvi appears to ‘awe’ at her home culture. The simile ‘glistening like an orange split open’ that Alvi uses when describing one of her Salwar Kameez’s proves this to me. Glistening like an orange split open is a beautiful simile. It really portrays the beauty of this item of Pakistani clothing. It makes you picture a thought of an orange split open but then the word glistening makes you picture something beautiful, shiny and standing out. This word not only conveys her adoring thoughts for this item of clothing but she makes you think in the same way. And surely, I think, that if she can feel this way about one item of clothing from this culture, she must like the rest of them in the same way and in fact she almost certainly will think the same way about the Pakistani culture in general.
Sujata Bhatt seems to have a deep sense of pride in belonging to two cultures. Even though she doesn’t seem to like or enjoy it she still fells a lot of pride. She has pride in the fact that she not only belongs to her home culture but she belongs to another as well. The way she writes in standard English and Gujarati in the same piece would underline this to anybody.
Search for my tongue is written in an irregular structure. This could be because Sujata Bhatt feels irregular in Germany. She is one of few people on the streets who have been part of three cultures and she doesn’t like having to be someone different in every single one. She may see herself as irregular in that case. Or she could see the situation that she is in as irregular.
It seems the same for Moniza Alvi in ‘Presents…’ She also has written her poem in an irregular structure. Once again there is no obvious reason for this and again I think that she feels out of place or irregular in the situation she is in. She is in a country and a culture that she does not feel that she really belongs to and possibly she feels that this is irregular or she may just feel out of place. However even though she is not really part of the English culture she does not feel part of the Pakistani culture either and she feels very very put of place.
‘Presents…’ is written in seven irregular stanzas and in free verse.
However ‘Search…’ is written in three long stanzas. The first and last are written in standard English while the middle one is written in Gujarati with a phonetic translation underneath which shows how she belongs to two different cultures.
The whole of ‘Presents…’ is written in Standard English. I think she has done this because even though she is more part of the Pakistani culture she feels that she belongs more to the English culture. She has written in first person and like ‘Search…’ it is a very autobiographical poem. She uses a lot of vivid or effective similes as well as metaphors, throughout the poem. ‘Glistening like an Orange split open’. This is one of the beautiful similes that Alvi uses that really conveys the beauty of the dress, which she is describing. Conveying her appreciation, respect and admiration for the Pakistani culture that she, regretfully does not feel a part of.
Sujata Bhatt uses plant imagery throughput the poem. This is an extended metaphor. ‘Rot, decay, and blossom’, all bring a sense of plant imagery to this piece of writing. Sujata Bhatt also uses a bit of the present tense when it should have been written in the past. ‘I thought I spit it out’, is proof of this. In Standard English it should have been ‘I thought I spat it out’ however the rest of the poem is written in Standard English.
The themes in the two poems are extremely similar. They both bring a clash of cultures to mind. Also both writers express a search for cultural identity.
I think both writers try to show hard it is to be integrated into another culture. They put across the fact that no matter where you go it is hard to have to learn to live in a new culture and learn a new language. Possibly they where thinking about the way people or ‘patriots’ are constantly complaining about the way that foreigners are constantly moving to ‘their’ country and maybe this is the reply that Bhatt and Alvi where putting up to this.
There are a few symbols that convey the way that both writers belong to two different cultures.
For Moniza Alvi her clothes, presents, the lamp, jewellery and her pictures all signify her Pakistani culture. While the way she writes in Standard English and talks about her English Grandmother and Denim clothes signify her link to the English culture.
With Sujata Bhatt the only main and real symbol that she belong to two cultures are the way that she writes in English and Gujarati in he same poem. After studying her background I have found out that she has lived in all of ; India, which is where she spoke Gujarati, The USA where she spoke English and she is now currently living in Germany, where she speaks German.
I enjoyed reading both poems. My favourite one is ‘Presents…’ This is mainly because of the beautiful and effective similes and metaphors that Moniza Alvi uses. I love the way in which she describes how she is part of both cultures but doesn’t really feel part of either.
I like the use of the extended metaphor used throughout ‘Search…’ It really provides an excellent and vivid description of what she is going through.
Overall the poems are very autobiographical. They both portray a search for cultural identity, particularly ‘Presents…’ Where Alvi discusses how she wants to feel part of the Pakistani culture but can’t and how she is more or less being forced to feel part of the English culture, but very unwillingly.
Search for my Tongue is more Bhatt describing how she misses her Indian culture and feels stuck with the German one.
Both writers appear slightly fed up with where they are now.
In ‘Search…’ the lines; ‘If you lived in a place you had to speak a foreign tongue’, underline the fact that she doesn’t want to be part of the culture that she is currently in and she misses her original culture. The lines; ‘Your mother tongue would rot, rot and die in your mouth’, shows how she misses her old culture and feels she is almost being forced to forget it.
In ‘Presents…’ the line ‘I could never be as lovely as those clothes,’ makes you realise that she thinks that the clothes and the culture are both lovely and wonderful but she feels she would never fit in with them.
Both of these poems are wonderful. They both portray a search for cultural identity, and while one seems to find hers the other appears to end her poem at a point where she is still at the beginning of her quest. Overall my favourite poem is Presents from My Aunts in Pakistan but I also really enjoyed reading ‘Search for my tongue’.
By Matthew T. McMahon
