In the poem of an unknown girl by moniza alvi .she has given many themes in the poem for the below themes write an example from the poem and a comment:
1) cultural identity
2) a sense of belonging
3) feeling of loss
4) the known and unknown
5) the importance of people's appearance
6) the contrast between east and west
Answers
Explanation:
An Unknown Gi.rl focuses on personal identity and sense of belonging through the simple action of a girl paid a few rupees (Indian currency) to draw a design on a hand. She does this using henna, a brown plant dye, squeezed from a plastic nozzle, common practice in India.
The first person speaker is the one having this design drawn by an unknown gi.rl. As this is taking place in the bazaar (from the Persian, meaning market or working area) the poem builds up a picture of the surroundings.
The peacock design becomes increasingly significant. Not only is it the national bird of India, turning up in Indian mythology and folklore, it represents 'new brown veins' on the skin of the speaker. That is, new blood.
So the basic theme of this poem is one of shifting identity, of being caught between cultures - in this case India and probably the West.
In the poem we are not told where the speaker originates from, there's ambiguity.
Is she Indian herself? She seems to be making a keen contrast between tradition and more modern cultural aspects, such as Miss India 1993, where fem.ale models are paraded for their beauty and grace.
An Unknown Gi.rl explores the idea of belonging and identity through personal narrative, repetition and cultural allusion. However, the ending is ambiguous, the speaker uncertain of who she is, wanting to retain that feeling she had when the design was fresh and an unknown gir.l and she were one.
An Unknown G.irl
analysis-of-poem-unknown-g.irl-by-moniza-alvi
Analysis of An Unknown Gi.rl Line By Line
An Unknown G.irl is a 48 line poem that, visually, on the page, is 'all by itself' not knowing whether to move left or right, a continuous series of short lines that widen then narrow, a little like a stack of lines that could topple over at any time.
This physical uncertainty is mirrored within the text as the speaker has her hand hennad (henna, a plant dye used to 'tattoo' the skin) in an evening bazaar by an unknown gi.rl.