Poem: An Unknown Girl

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With regards to the question above, the writer of "An Unknown Girl" presents her feeling about the country she has visited successfully, as she uses a lot of literary techniques and reference from the West to show that the return of the writer to the East is the journey to find out the sense of belonging to her culture and her real identity. First, metaphor is widely used in this poem. The title of this poem "An Unknown Girl" may refer to the writer herself, a henna artist (a stranger from a bazaar ) or a country that she belongs to -India, which shares a similar culture with Pakistan. This topic gives a mysterious feeling to the readers as the writer moved to England when she was small, and now she is back to her original countryto rediscover her own identity by visiting a crowded, evening bazaar and…show more content…
an unknown girl is hennaing my hand. She squeezes a wet brown line from a nozzle She is icing my hand. Icing usually refers to a Western baking technique which is to add some sweet creamy toppings to make cakes more beautiful and delicious, while a henna artist decorates her hands with beautiful peacock patterns. In line 16, metaphor is used. "A peacock spreads its lines across my palm. " The peacock symbolizes the beauty of the Indian culture. India is a colorful place just like the tail of a peacock. It also show the pattern of the henna on her hands starts to take shape. Second, personification is used in line 20-23, "Dummies in shop-front tilt and stare with their Western perms" , to describe the dummies of the clothing shop looks strange when they are put in a traditional Indian market place. Third, simile is used in line 32, " I am clinging to these firm peacock lines like people who cling to the sides of the train." This shows that the writer wants to hold on her rediscovered identity after she leaves India, though her connection to India is weak, she still wants to hold on to this identity
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