East Is East - Plot

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The story takes place in Salford, England in 1970 before the war between Pakistan and India of the independence of East Pakistan. The father of the Khan family George from Pakistan is very strict and he wants his children to obey him. Their mother Ella is English. ACT ONE, SCENE ONE In the beginning of scene one, George chases his son Sajid around the house while his English wife Ella sits in the living room with her friend Annie, talking while drinking tea and smoking. They ask George why he’s chasing Sajit around and he claims that Sajit hasn’t been circumcised like his other brothers. Ella doubts it, she says that it must be a mistake but when Sajit shows Annie that he hasn’t been circumcised, George blames Ella for it. “You see, it’s your bloody fault.” He wants Sajit to be circumcised as soon as possible, not being circumcised is in his opinion embarrassing. It has to be done before some arrangements George has made, but he doesn’t say what arrangements. Sajit is scared of the operation and he runs out of the room. Annie, who’s like a second mother to Ella and George’s children, follows him to talk to him. George accuses Ella of not understanding his religion like he has many times before and says that Sajit’s no Muslim if he’s not circumcised and that he will go to hell after dying if he doesn’t get it done. He also says that her children run wild, but that’s going to stop, he’s going to “fix” them. They mention Nazir, but the reader doesn’t really know who it is. After the usual fight about who owns the house and George’s first wife, Annie enters the room again. George believes that the fact that Sajit isn’t circumcised is the reason why Sajit talks to himself in the streets and isn’t like all the other kids from Pakistan. When George leaves, Annie confronts Ella of already knowing about Sajit not being circumcised, which she confirms. She wanted to

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