Exploration of The Idea of Identity in "An Unknown Girl" and "Night"

Identity and discovery are two main themes within the poem “An Unknown Girl” text “Night”. The authors, Moniza Alvi who wrote “An Unknown Girl” and Alice Munro who wrote “Night”, manage to portray these two themes through a vast variety of literary devices and lexical choices. Alvi uses a collection of jubilant and captivating vocabulary to pull the reader in an intriguing yet colourful and lively environment. On the other hand, Munro sets a perplexing atmosphere to portray the narrators search for identity through the language, structure and literary devices. One way in which discovery is portrayed in Unknown Girl is by experiencing all of her ancestral culture she missed by living in England. Being originally from Pakistan but growing up in the UK, Alvi feels like a tourist and this idea of discovering a new yet old culture comforts her as said metaphorically "For curtain cloth and sofa cloth canopy me I have new brown veins. ” this metaphor from the poem powerfully suggests strong emotions of longing and new found identity that Alvi is discovering. Especially “canopy”, a word used usually to suggest something big covering and protecting, which can easily be applied to the feeling of comfort Alvi is feeling toward her newly discovered environment.

The experienced vs the unknown as well has a powerful contribution to discovering a new found culture. As “an unknown girl is hennaing my hand” Alvi manages to portray the feelings of the narrator as she is sensing “a wet brown line” graze her hand for the first time. This creates a great contrast with the unknown girl who is distant and perplexing being but yet so real and close “hennaing my hand”. To further emphasize the idea of a new feeling Alvi writes “icing my hand” which the word “icing” could mean something cold which connotes a distant feeling or in this case a newly discovered emotion. The use of repetition further contributes to this idea of an unknown discovery by repeating the phrase “an unknown is hennaing my hand” which can be seen as an oxymoron as the narrator is finding hard to grasp the idea of this mystifying entity, so far and unknown and yet doing something so real and exciting and intimate. Throughout the whole poem the setting is a neon bazaar but towards the end of the poem when the narrator leaves India and the neon bazaar she comes to the realization of the feelings she discovered, as a once unknown location suddenly becomes a place she can relate to as when she leaves her thoughts are “I’ll lean across a country with my hands outstretched longing for the unknown girl In the neon bazaar”. The discovery of what has been lost plays a big part within both texts. “Unknown Girl” portrays loss quite differently from “Night”. In “An Unknown Girl” the idea of discovering something lost flows throughput the whole poem by showing a few scenes that portray westernization, and a particular section which emphasizes this loss of culture is “Dummies in shop fronts tilt and stare with their Western perms. ” where the use of personification of dummies almost as if they are coming to life has an effect of giving western objects power; leading to a loss of cultural identity and traditions. This is where the narrator struggles to discover traditions and cultures. Another section emphasizing loss is: “longing for the unknown girl” here the loss of the girl has a great impact on the narrator as she saw this girl as a way to reconnect to her lost culture by connecting with this beacon of hope; the “Unknown Girl”. “Longing” connotes a discomfort in her new situation and wants to go back to the “unknown girl” A new found identity is evoked by both authors in both texts but each representing in a different way. “An Unknown girl” portrays the discovery of an old identity the has bloomed within the narrator, after an unforgettable experience. A subtle metaphor, “when India appears and reappears” is used when the narrator is trying to grasp onto the old culture she rediscovered. The narrator is welcoming her new identity that she discovered with her “hands outstretched” this also directly refers to the discovery of what has been los and the unknown girl hence receiving the title “An Unknown Girl”.

“Night”, although having a darker atmosphere than “An Unknown Girl” it still shares the theme of discovery, more specifically; the coming of age. Night depicts the story of a young girl who went through a surgery that traumatized her, some years later when her state of mind is changing and she is becoming a women she goes through many different emotions and feelings that impact her mental state and drive her through absurd ideas that throw her into a troubled time. Coming of age can be frightful and hard experience to overcome. The narrator is portrayed by Munro as a young adult overwhelmed by discovering her new persona, but she doesn’t know it yet. “I was not myself. ” This short sentence presents an arduous discovery as she stumble into trying to find her new self. The narrator proceeds to be “more disturbed” by the “failure to fall asleep” as she tried to come up with justifications, until “Think again” a powerful short sentence that suggests the narrator came to a dawning realization of being ill as she did not know what was going on with her. The extract then prolongs into short paragraphs and sentences suggesting a rush of thoughts as she try to overcome this period in her life. As in “An Unknown Girl”, also “Night” tackles the unknown, when the narrators father questions her problem with the contorted thoughts and trouble sleeping she explicitly answers with “I did not know. ” This short sentence emphasizes how perplexed the character is towards her new and unknown emotions.

In “Night” loss is portrayed in a set of short sentences: “The thought was there and hanging in my mind” and “It might be saying why not. Why not try the worst”. These short sentences evoke the slow loss of childhood and the easy going life of not worrying about anything experienced as a child. “The thought that i could strangle my sister” for reasons unknown but possibly out if jealousy for the little sister having a wonderful and pleasant childhood; everything that she lost.

In “Night” her new found identity is maturing into a young woman. This coming of age was the main cause of her being unwell and disturbed as she says “My troubles return in the night of course” this also insinuates that it’s a mental issue as during the night she is alone and thinks to herself. Towards the end, the narrator finally comes to the realization and discovery of what she was feeling. “From then on i could sleep. ” Again here a short sentence is used to explicitly emphasize the narrators doubts on her wellbeing and thoughts of fear she had towards adulthood; this creates with the reader a strong close bond. Munro uses short sentences throughout the whole poem to explicitly express herself, making the text come off as a very powerful and almost as a set of instructions and advice on how to tackle and overcome difficult times.

To summarise it all both texts explore themes relating to discovery and identity and also directly relate to both main themes. Although each author managed to portray the themes in a unique way, they do share some techniques. Munro distinctly uses short sentences to explicitly convey the narrators emotions, whereas Alvi uses metaphors and personification to convey a more jubilant setting. Munro addresses the problem of a young girl in her text. She uses a much darker lexicon. The overall effect it gives the reader is both text are polar opposite respecting the setting but yet they share feelings and emotions which are all conveyed by the structure and literary devices and language to explore the themes of discovery.