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Roots and Identity

             In the poems "Ogun" by Edward Kamau Braithwaite, "Search For My Tongue" by Sujata Bhatt and "Presents From My Aunts In Pakistan" by Moniza Alvi, the writer shows his/her feelings regarding roots and identity.
             Ogun is about Edward Kamau Braithwaite's (E.K.B's) uncle who was a skilled carpenter and made fabulous pieces of furniture. E.K.B sees his uncle as an idol and shows that he is proud to be in his uncle's bloodstream by titling the poem "Ogun" who is the African god of iron and thunder. The fact that this is an African god shows the loss of identity as E.K.B. describes later in the poem how technology that is mainly from the western world or the more economically developed countries begins to evolve. E.K.B. now has to choose between his uncle's fabulous pieces, which have involved effort and a lot of skill or some ordinary machine-made items. The nickname "Ogun" may have been given to his uncle because of the determination and anger of his uncle represented in the poem just like the reaction of thunder. However these wonderful items made out of wood were overtaken by obviously what the "world preferred" which consisted of "imported cabinets with mirrors" and "spine curving chairs". The anger would be made up of the facts that his uncle may feel unwanted in the world due to his "unnecessary" furniture. This anger would by instincts be passed on to E.K.B. especially considering his is seen as an idol. The mood shown in this poem becomes confusion and anger. The confusion is expressed all the way through the poem. E.K.B makes himself sound confused as the tone of the poem changes from raising a scene of his uncle working peacefully and the bringing to life of a sculpture, which would be seen as a happy part of the poem. But towards the end of the poem the tone changes to somewhat an angry mood. The viewpoint of the author is that his relationship with his uncle is considerably big represented by some of the heroic use of style and language in the poem, such as "with knife and gimlet care he worked away at this on Sundays".


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