‘Presents from my Aunts in Pakistan’ and ‘Hurricane hits England’ are very similar. That is to say that they both reflect how the poet feels about their cultures. In ‘Presents’ the girl marvels at how pretty clothes from Pakistan are describing them vibrantly with colours such as ‘peacock blue. ‘ The reader gets the impression that the girl is uncomfortable with her new home in England yet feels she could not be comfortable living in Pakistan either, describing herself as having ‘no fixed nationality. ‘ Suggesting that she is very confused and cannot see where she belongs.
Similarly, in ‘Hurricane Hits England,’ the reader can see that the poet is not feeling at home in England either, and says that ‘It took a hurricane to bring her closer to the landscape,’ this suggests that the poet is used to hurricanes hitting her homeland. Which therefore make her feel less homesick when one hits England as she feel she can relate to it. Internal conflict is present throughout ‘Presents,’ showing the complexity of how the girl is feeling. ‘Candy-striped glass bangles snapped, drew blood. The sweet picture the ‘candy-striped glass bangles’ creates leaves a positive view on your mind as she describes presents she has received from her aunt. However, following it with the negativity that they ‘snapped and drew blood’ shows the audience that she can see there are things wrong with Pakistan. Throughout the poem she gives a very positive view of the presents she has received, as they ‘were radiant in [her] wardrobe. ‘ She contrasts that bright Pakistan culture by comparing the clothes to that of Marks and Spencers.
She is summing up England with this, showing her negative view of it as ‘Marks and Spencers’ creates a very dull image. In ‘Hurricane Hits England,’ the poets discomfort with England is apparent as it takes something as strong as a hurricane to ‘break the frozen lake’ in her, meaning that her heart is not so frozen and she can begin to enjoy life. The structure of ‘Hurricane hits England’ is very important. It starts off written in the third person, but by the end is in the first person, this showing how close she feels to the hurricane and creating an impact.
This is also shown as she describes it as ‘[her] sweeping, back-home cousin’ suggesting that she feels so familiar with the hurricane that she is willing to call it family. Oxymorons such as ‘fearful and reassuring’ are also used in ‘Hurricane Hits England. ‘ These show the confusion of the poet as although she feels soothed by the hurricane she still doesn’t quite understand it. Free verse is used in ‘Presents’ meaning that the poet has a lot of freedom with the syllables.
The reader gets the impression that in ‘Presents’ the girl longs to feel like she belongs, she tries ‘denim and corduroy’ but they don’t feel right, yet she cannot wear Pakistani clothes either as ‘[she] could never be as lovely as those clothes. ‘ This is another example of internal conflict. It also suggests that the tone is sad as she puts herself down. Various techniques have been used in both ‘Presents’ and ‘Hurricane’ to create a tone of confusion. The poets seem to neither like or dislike England, yet cannot feel comfortable wherever they are.
