Lecture2: Moniza Alvi’s poem “Presents from my aunt

in Pakistan”

Outline:
 Introduction to the poem
 Textual, formal and structural features of the poem
 Thematic dimensions
 Stanza wise interpretation and explanation of the poem
About the Poem:
"Presents from My Aunts in Pakistan" is almost a perfect classroom poem. It comes
from Moniza Alvi's first full-length collection, The Country At My Shoulder, which
was published in 1993 – the collection was nominated for various prizes and was a New
Generation promotion.

SITUATION: The poem gives voice to a young person who has been living away from her
homeland for quite some time. The voice reflects the way in which she has adjusted to her new
home, yet still yearns for the place of her childhood. A teenage girl who came from Pakistan as
a baby/toddler to live in England receives some Asian clothes from her Aunts in Pakistan. Her
attitude to the clothes symbolises her mixed feelings about her birth country. She is torn
between two cultures: she loves the Asian clothes because they represent her roots in
Pakistan but she is English now and there are things about the clothes which she feels would
not let her fit in with English society. There are also, perhaps, other things which she does not
like about Pakistan.
 The girl wants to fit in with western society symbolized by the very western
clothes
 A lot of negative aspects in these memories of Pakistan
 The “camel-skin” lamp is used symbolically by the poet to represent the
girl’s situation
 The older generation, however, seem to have less difficulty switching
between two cultures
 Ironically, the Aunts in Pakistan are quite happy to wear boring, western
“cardigans” obtained from that great symbol of Englishness – “Marks and
Spencers”!
 The poem ends on an ambiguous note with the beauty of the exotically
named “Shalimar Gardens”.
 The girl’s feelings “of no fixed nationality” and the symbolic cut off from
the Gardens by the “fretwork”
Ideas/Themes:

• IDENTITY

• TWO PLACES

• SEPARATION

• ISOLATION
• ROOTS

• MIXED FEELINGS

• CHOICES
LANGUAGE/POETIC TECHNIQUES:

Positive terms used to describe things received as presents for example;

“peacock-blue”.
“Apple-green sari”,
 “silver-bordered”
“satin-silken top” (alliteration emphasizes the phrase)
“lovely” for the clothes

Her feelings symbolized by clothes about the country of her birth because they are national dresses in
Pakistan
“salwar kameez”, “slippers” and “sari”.

Negative terms linked with the clothes:

the simile, “like an orange split open”
“the glass bangles/snapped, drew blood”
Both convey an idea of physical pain to mirror her emotional turmoil of loving the clothes but
wanting to fit in with her western friends.
“camel-skin” as a symbol
She feels “alien” wearing the clothes and she describes them as a “costume” as though she is an actress
and she is losing her (English) identity by wearing them.
 The use of the alliterative hard “c” sound gives us a sense of the anxiety in
her voice, “costume clung to me”. The same device is used with the same
emotion conveyed later in the poem: “consider the cruelty” and “conflict in a
fractured land” – all ideas linked to her place of birth.
 “I was aflame” is a metaphor which gives a sense of the beauty of the
(orange) clothes but also conveys her reddening embarrassment and
emotional pain in wearing the clothes.
 The clothes being “stiff” and “narrow” perhaps symbolises the way society
for women in Pakistan is quite restricted: my aunts in shaded rooms/screened
from male visitors”.
 Perhaps the words describe the way the clothes can be tight-fitting – just as
she does not appear to fit easily into either society.
Form and Structure:
 The lines are randomly laid out, indented to differing degrees and have a zigzag layout.
 Similarly, the line lengths vary and so do the stanza lengths
 This confusion perhaps mirrors the girl’s shifting and confused sense of identity – moving
constantly, in her mind, between the two cultures.
 Some unusual line divisions which confuse the reader’s understanding at times: “silver-
bordered/for my teens” and “I longed/for denim and corduroy” (The unusual line divisions
give a sense of her disconnectedness from her place of birth).
 Repetition of use of hyphenated words (signifying her hyphenated identity)
 The repeated use of the dash for end of line pauses reflects the girl stopping to think about
her situation and it adds to the deliberately disjointed rhythm of the poem
 The poem is a first person narration with a heavy use of first person pronouns, “I”, “me”,
“my”– this helps to reinforce the main theme of the poem which is the girl questioning her
identity – who “me” really is – English or Pakistani.
Imagery
 The voice is that of the poet, the first person ‘I’.
 The power of the poem derives from the objects she describes, the
clothes with their vivid colours and the jewellery.
 The dual time scale is also important, comparing the baby she was
who was brought to England with the teenage persona.
 There is also the contrast of cultures; the sheltered Aunts in
Pakistan and the freer Western teenager.
Presents from My Aunts in Pakistan Analysis
Stanza 1
They sent me a salwar kameez
           peacock-blue,
                 and another
  glistening like an orange split open,
embossed slippers, gold and black
           points curling.
  Candy-striped glass bangles
           snapped, drew blood.
  Like at school, fashions changed
           in Pakistan –
the salwar bottoms were broad and stiff,
           then narrow.
My aunts chose an apple-green sari,
  silver-bordered
           for my teens.
Stanza 2
I tried each satin-silken top –
  was alien in the sitting-room.
I could never be as lovely
           as those clothes –
  I longed
for denim and corduroy.
  My costume clung to me
           and I was aflame,
I couldn’t rise up out of its fire,
  half-English,
           unlike Aunt Jamila.
Stanza 3
I wanted my parents’ camel-skin lamp –
  switching it on in my bedroom,
to consider the cruelty
           and the transformation
from camel to shade,
  marvel at the colours
           like stained glass.
Stanza 4
My mother cherished her jewellery –
  Indian gold, dangling, filigree,
           But it was stolen from our car.
The presents were radiant in my wardrobe.
  My aunts requested cardigans
           from Marks and Spencers.
Stanza 5
My salwar kameez
  didn’t impress the schoolfriend
who sat on my bed, asked to see
  my weekend clothes.
But often I admired the mirror-work,
  tried to glimpse myself
           in the miniature
glass circles, recall the story
  how the three of us
           sailed to England.
Prickly heat had me screaming on the way.
  I ended up in a cot
In my English grandmother’s dining-room,
  found myself alone,
           playing with a tin-boat.
Stanza 6
I pictured my birthplace
  from fifties’ photographs.
           When I was olde
there was conflict, a fractured land Stanza 7
  throbbing through newsprint. Or there were beggars, sweeper-girls
Sometimes I saw Lahore –   and I was there –
           my aunts in shaded rooms,            of no fixed nationality,
staring through fretwork
screened from male visitors,
           at the Shalimar Gardens.
  sorting presents,
        wrapping them in tissue.
   Thanks!