An Unknown Girl- Moniza Alvi

• Context:

  - The narrator is a visitor of India, very fond of the cultures and traditions

  - Set after the rule of the British Empire and uses contextual references to capture the nature of the culture that they are so close to
• Points:

  - Narrator has a certain connection to India and its culture, keep coming back to it

  - The Unknown Girl encaptulates the indian culture, she is the narrator's most vivid memory the she clings to and it gives her comfort

  - The culture of India is ever changing, yet the legacy of theBritish Empire is slowly fading and becoming out of place

  - Structure: Time shifts and tonal shifts, circlular structure, motif of returning to the memory
• "In the evening bazaar studded with neon and unknown girl is hennaing my hand"


  - Traditional form of hand decorating is the aspect that connects her and the unknown girl

  - Describes the setting as a busy bright place with a mixture of old and modern

  - Immediately introduces us to the memory that keep re-emerging in the narrator's head, creates a connection between the unknown girl and India as a whole

  - Intimate action
• "She is icing my hand, which she steadies with hers on her satin-peach knee (...) for a few rupees"


  - Creates an image of connection and trusting

  - Intimate comfort, the physical contact creates a connection and sense of warmth and care

  - "Satin-peach" suggests the beauty and vibrancy of the culture

  - "Rupees", very low currency of India, shows how meaningful this experience was for her
• "Dummies in shop fronts tilt and stare with their Western perms"


  - Mannequins from the west, disconcerting, uncanny and out of place

  - India was part of the British Empire, fading British power and influence

  - Legacy, culture continues to change
• "Banners for Miss India 1993, for a curtain cloth and sofa cloth canopy me."


  - Industrial aspect, from Europe

  - Indian beauty pageant westernised culture influence

  - Residents recycle the banners into the canopy roof

  - India is absorbed into an ongoing, changing culture, very attached and they want to maintain it

  - "Canopy me" makes them feel safe

  - Market is a mix of old, new, Western and Indian culture
• "It will fade in a week. When India appears and reappears I'll lean across a country with my hands outstretched longing for the unknown girl"


  - Time shift and tonal shift, contrasts from the beginning

  - Clings to the memory with desperation, only a temporary thing

  - The henna would fade and so would the memory

  - Keeps returning to India for comfort

  - A fond memory, something that they wish they could go back to, yearning to go back

  - "Hands outstretched" because she wants to go back