Kamala Das An Introduction Poem

“Island Man” and “Half Caste” are two poems written by John Agard and Grace Nichols. Even though they have different purposes, structure and language, both present the theme of identity. In this essay I am going to be comparing characteristics such as purpose, theme, structure, emotions and poetic techniques in analysing these two texts.

The poem is written as a reflection/recollection of the narrator’s past memories and actions pertaining to his father. It is arranged in the past tense format with past participles. This further proves of the events occurring in the past and ties in with the relation of a specific time or age complementing with one’s lack of knowledge and understanding. Since the author is reflecting on his past there is the consideration of his lower comprehensive skills. The poem is also structured in the form of memories, which is coherent to the meaning of the poem as it efficaciously communicates the reflective theme. At the end, there is a major shift as the rhetorical questions play into role. ”What did I know, what did I know?” In this the narrator’s tone partially sounds as if he is directing the questions to his younger self in an interrogating manner, questioning his understanding. This particular statement expresses more of his inner voice, which is of deep sorrow and guilt for not acknowledging his father’s deeds and noticing his love. Likewise, the reader is able to notice this change and appreciate the narrator’s new level of maturity and

Among the barriers that divide the mankind, race is the special one (one can say the same about gender). Others such as religion, language, nationality, food, clothing habits, economic status and political ideology can all be changed if one wishes, but not race, it is in the face! The wide spectrum of human skin color betrays our common genetic origin. Although the term race that is attributed to skin color is superficial and unscientific, it has given rise to centuries of prejudices and inequality. Time and again many have voiced their opposition to such social injustices through their medium of choice. The current work of interest is one such example where the poet fights through her poetry against atrocities of the occupiers and racial discrimination.

There are many notable moments in Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. The Indian cultural faces many obstacles and are constantly discriminated against because of who they are. The Indian culture is looked at as poor and because of this are not given the same opportunities as others who are white. In one of the most notable moments of this novel Arnold reflects on this idea that Indians are just poor. This moment gives insight to the reader of how people in society look at those who are not the same as them.

Identity is portrayed similarly in “half caste” and “no problem” because they are both about race and their struggle to be acknowledged as a person. Both poets John Agard and Benjamin Zephaniah use language, for and structure to show the struggle.

She responds deeply to the past and present difficulties of her people – Aboriginal people because she identified with them. The brutal treatment of Aborigines and the sad loss of culture is confronting for her. It leads her to new values and speculations that the future can be positive. The context of her poems leads the reader to the new values and ideas about the values. She is trying to influence the people and society by telling the Aboriginal cultures and stories.

This paper attempts to examine the fictional projections of Indian girls, to see how they emerge in ideological terms. Their journeys from self-alienation to self-adjustment, their childhood struggles against the hypocrisies and monstrosities of the grown-up world, eventually demolishing the unjust male constructed citadels of power that hinder their progress- are the highlighted issues. The point of comparison between the two novels focused on here is the journey of Rahel in The God of Small Things and Sai in The Inheritance from a lonely childhood to a tragic adulthood passing through a struggle with the complex forces of patriarchal society. Both the novels portray the imaginativeness, inventiveness, independence, rebelliousness, wide-eyed wonder and innocence associated with these young girls.

Bharathi Mukherjee’s later novels Jasmine(1989), The Holder of the World(1993) and Leave It to Me(1997) comprised her last creative phase conveniently termed here as the phase of immigration. By now she has travelled a long distance in terms of thematic perception and character portrayal. Beginning with an expatriate’s uprooted identity in the early 70’s, her creative faculty explored the transitional dilemma of characters in early 80’s, whose acculturation bids were occasionally thwarted by the complexity of cultural plurality in the adopted land. However, after the publication of The Middleman(1998), the process of cultural acclimatization appears to be complete and the characters betray the confidence of an immigrant, almost a naturalized citizen, in facing the challenges of human life.

When you look and read the book cover and back cover of this collection of poems, you instantly think of the visions of poems and the strength and activism of this woman. In the whole course from the beginning to the end of this book, this collection enforces the beauty and the fierce character of the author, as I will try to show you in this essay. It also brings to life past, present, and possible future of the women presented by Sonia Sanchez.

The voice of this poem is an obvious one; and Indian woman. However there are such moments in this poem where there is a connection between the reader and the poet. The Indian woman is strong, she is a leader and faces all which many do not and manages to hold her head high. She is somewhat a founder of her aboriginal community and although there is an uncertainty as to why, she feels as thought she can overcome what others cannot. The Indian woman is full of knowledge and realizes that there may be such struggles which he must overcome, however she is willing to do so in order to maintain that steady lifestyle for the rest of her community. She is aware that something is wrong (stanza 9), yet understands that there truly is no way out, other than by abiding and staying alive through all of her hardships. This woman is a strong individual and cares for her family.

This poem dose not just show symbolism it also shows how dissections are all around us.All the things in this paper are all connected by how they are all about how they are all about choices and how they will all connect.This poem was written in 1916 and we still don’t know what the true meaning of the poem and we have so many theory about the

“An Unknown Girl” by Moniza Alvi is a free verse poem about the author’s experience getting her hand hennaed in an Indian bazaar. Throughout the poem, Alvi makes use of structure techniques like end-stopped lines, occasional rhymes, language, imagery, and changes in tone to explore different aspects of the concept of identity.

Krishna Sobti is a well known and respected Hindi fiction writer, famous for her novels and short-stories and is considered to be the grande dame of Hindi Literature. She won some of the most prestigious awards including the ‘Sahitya Akademi Award’ in 1980 for her novel ‘Zindaginama’, the Shiromani Award in 1981, the Hindi Academy Award in 1982, the Sahitya Akademi Fellowship in 1996 and the first Katha Chudamani Award in 1999 . She was offered the Padma Bhushan by the Government of India in 2010, which she declined, stating that, "As a writer, I have to keep a distance from the establishment. I think I did the right thing.” [1]. Krishna Sobti describes herself as “ a writer who happens to be a liberal, middle-class

Bama Faustina is the most distinguished Dalit fiction writer in Tamil, and one of the most acclaimed of all Dalit women writers. She was born in Madras in 1958. Her autobiographical novel Karukku was the first Tamil Dalit text on the Christian Dalit community, through which she rose to fame. After the success of Karukku, Bama wrote Sangati and Kusumbukkaran.

Bharati Mukherjee is one of the accomplished diasporic writers. Her writing focuses mainly on women’s suppression, struggle to overcome the problems and attempt to attain identification. Bharati Mukherjee also depicts the cultural conflicts between the East and the West. When a person enters into a new culture from the old one, the conflict arises between the two cultures in the alien land. This paper explores how the female character, Jasmine is portrayed as protagonist in Bharati Mukherjee’s Jasmine. Bharati Mukherjee portrays Indian woman as protagonist in all her novels and the character takes brave decision to emigrate which is the first major step of heroism. The character is portrayed with the capable of facing adventures and creates own happiness and identity, unyielding by conventionality. In Jasmine (1989),