AN UNKNOWN GIRL

SUMMERY

• What is it about?
• Henna
• Indians and westerns
• Connecting
• Losing herself

MONIZA ALVI

• Moniza Alvi is a Pakistani-British poet and writer. Born: February 2, 1954 (age 62)
• Her father is Pakistani and her mother is English
• She moved to England at a young age
• Received several rewards and published several books for her poetry.

MONIZA ALVI

• She did not revisit Pakistan until after the publication of one of her first books of poems — The Country at My Shoulder. She worked for several years as a high-school teacher, but is now a freelance writer and tutor, living in Norfolk.
• She has written 44 pieces of text, two of which are used in GCSEs today.

WHY DID SHE WRITE IT?

• We believe MONIZA ALVI wrote an unknown girl to help her realise where she is from and to help her remember her culture as it was originally because it's changing with technology so dramatically and the westerns

HISTORY

• In 1993 The Indian culture was westernised (Line 23)
• The westerns were fascinated by the Indians and they brought in new technology changing the Indian ways and their traditional culture

KEY THEMES

• Henna
• Her culture
• Losing herself due to change
• Pride
• Identity
• Culture

TECHNIQUES

• Metaphors; e.g 'colours leave the street float up in balloons.'
• Metaphors; 'I have new brown veins'.
• Short lines
• Structure
• Repetition
• Simile