The Rainbow Sign by Hanif Kureishi by Christina Weien Hansen https://padlet.com/whof/vzxfeysijezc Made by the energetic students en-us 2018-12-06 03:55:29 UTC 2026-04-10 17:53:22 UTC hello@padlet.com Topic akemp0412 https://padlet.com/whof/vzxfeysijezc/wish/311698025 What type of texts is it?
The text is an excerpt from Hanif Kureishi’s autobiographical reflection on the nature of the Pakistani experience at different stages of his life.

What is the texts about?
The text is about a Pakistani man, who is confused about his own identity.
"From the start I tried to deny my Pakistani self. I was ashamed. It was a curse and I wanted to be rid of it. I wanted to be like everyone else."

Keywords to each paragraph:
Intergration
Family
Ashamed
lonely
Rascim
Enoch Powell
The British prejudice

What is the medium?
The text is from the book My Beautiful Laundrette and The Rainbow  Sign, Faber and Faber which was published in 1986.



]]> 2018-12-06 07:44:46 UTC https://padlet.com/whof/vzxfeysijezc/wish/311698025 Circumstances https://padlet.com/whof/vzxfeysijezc/wish/311705683
  • What occasion has caused the writer to produce this text?
    • He was racially abused since the age of 5...in England. And therefore inform the readers about this problem he experiences in the everyday life. 

    1. In what way(s) has this situation influenced the text?
    • He's childhood and residence in England has affected him in bad ways. This results in him expressing his thoughts about dealing with identity crisis and racism. With him being of pakistani and english origin, he therefore deals with this identity crisis as exemplified with Page 4, line 7 “I was having a little identity crisis..”
    To support this we’ve referenced to the following:
    • Site 3, line 25-26 ()“I reckoned that at least once every day 
    since I was five years old, I had been racially abused.”
    Site 3, line 10-13 (“I was desperately embarrassed and afraid of being identified with these loathed aliens. I found it almost impossible to answer questions about where I came from.The word 'Pakistani' had been made into an insult”)

    ]]>     2018-12-06 08:20:19 UTC https://padlet.com/whof/vzxfeysijezc/wish/311705683     https://padlet.com/whof/vzxfeysijezc/wish/311705857 11. Does the language belong to a certain dialect or sociolect?
    The author Hanif Kureishi was born in London, so he grew up around English people. When his dad moved to England, he never went back and the whole family got separated. Therefore Hanif doesn’t seem to carry any dialect from his origin in Pakistan. 
    12. Are there quotations? if yes, by whom, and in what way are they used?
    'We should not lose sight of the desirability of achieving a steady flow of voluntary repatriation for the elements which are proving unsuccessful or unassimilable’ (p. 2, l. 21-23)
    By: Enoch Powell (British politician) in 1965. 
    The quote is used to explain/show how everyone turned into racists -ish.(Christina's comments: careful! You are generelizing too much here. Not everybody turned into racists, some people believed in Powel's arguments and were looking for someone to blame for instance for unemployment etc.) Like, after Powell’s speech, people began to support him by painting graffiti in the streets of London. 
    • People/racists gained confidence, and the whole ‘’racism-thing’’ blew up. 
    13. Are there any references to specific topic, places or people?
    Hanif talks a lot about his father's origin and Pakistan. It’s practically what the whole text is about. 
    He also refers to numerous actors and Mowgli, a film character. 
    Places: Pakistan, England, Bombay, Karachi
    Topic: Racism, politics 
    People: Enoch Powell, Mowgli, John Enoch Powell, Peter Sellers, Pink Floyd, Beatles, John Peel Show 
    14. What arguments are used? are they weak or strong?
    It is told from Hanif’s point of view, which makes it very subjective. As arguments, he uses his own experiences from his childhood to tell the story, which makes his argument a little weak. (Christina's comments: Would you call it a weak argument when it is something he has experienced himself...?)As a reader, we don't know if he exaggerates  it. 
    “In the mid-1960s, Pakistanis were a risible subject in England, derided on television and exploited by politicians. They had the worst jobs, they were uncomfortable in England, some of them had difficulties with the language.”
    He does not have any ‘evidence’ or quotation that this is true, but it seems like this is how he experiences the treatment of him and other Pakistani. 
    15. What is the layout of the text?
    ‘’Normal text’’. 
    Excerpt from his autobiographical essay.  
    16. Are there illustrations? if yes, what kind and what is the relationship, between illustration and text?
    nopeily nope
    17.Is the presentation balanced and fair, or is it biased?
    the text is fair and not biased because Hanif gives some examples of how they blamed him, so it is not just a criticism towards the English people. 
    “Sometimes I heard them talking, heatedly, violently, about race, about 'the Pakis'” (p.3, l.8-9)
    18. Does the form complement the content?
    The content is not affected by how the text is set up. The form is pretty neutral and lets the points of the text stand out for themselves. 


    ]]>     2018-12-06 08:21:14 UTC https://padlet.com/whof/vzxfeysijezc/wish/311705857     Language and presentation https://padlet.com/whof/vzxfeysijezc/wish/311707140   
    Logos:
    -        Hanif Kureishi uses quotations to support his point of view 
    “In 1965, Enoch Powell said: 'We should not lose sight of the desirability of achieving a steady flow of voluntary repatriation for the elements which are proving unsuccessful or unassimilable”
    -        Not a lot of it is Logos 
     
    Pathos:
    -        He makes the reader feel sort of guilty (especially the Englishmen) by telling us about his experience with racism. “At school, one teacher always spoke to me in a 'Peter Sellers' Indian accent. Another refused to call me by my name, calling me Pakistani Pete instead”
    -        He tells everything from at personal angle and his personal experiences “Frequently during my childhood”
    -        Most of it is pathos 
    -        He wants sympathy 
    Ethos: 
    -        We only see it from his point of view. We can’t really tell if all Pakistanis feel like this by only reading his text.
    -        We can only trust him to a certain point. (Christina's comments: why should we not trust him? Is he trying to convince anyone of a certain point of view, isn't he just writing - autobiographically  - about his won experiences? )“I was born in London of an English mother and Pakistani father”. He was born as an Englishman but had Pakistani roots.
     
    ]]>     2018-12-06 08:27:29 UTC https://padlet.com/whof/vzxfeysijezc/wish/311707140     Intention: https://padlet.com/whof/vzxfeysijezc/wish/311707318
  • Why has the writer written this text? (To describe, to inform, to provoke, to persuade, to explain, to entertain, to manipulate or …?)
    • He tries to the describe, how he doesn’t at feel home anywhere.
    • He tries to enlighten  his bad experiences in England
    • There was no mutual respect between him, and the English peoplel. Page 4, line 18-21 (“As someone said to me at a party, provoked by the 
    fact I was wearing jeans: we are Pakistanis, but you, you will always be a Paki – 
    emphasizing the slang derogatory name the English used towards/for Pakistanis, and therefore the fact that I couldn't rightfully lay claim to either place)
    1.  

    ]]>     2018-12-06 08:28:25 UTC https://padlet.com/whof/vzxfeysijezc/wish/311707318     https://padlet.com/whof/vzxfeysijezc/wish/311707336 Writer/Speaker
    1. what's the writer's background?
    • English mother - Pakistani father
    • Doesn't know anything about how his Pakistani family lives
    2. How does the writer establish his/her Ethos:
    • He writes from his own experiences, which makes it both trustworthy, but also not trustworthy. (Christina's comments: You need to elaborate on this, it does not really make sense to claim that the text is both trustworthy and not trustworthy - gove examples to support your arguments).
    • “At school, one teacher always spoke to me in a 'Peter Sellers'[1] Indian accent.”
    • “Another refused to call me by my name, calling me Pakistani Pete instead.”
    3. Does the writer include himself as part of the group addressed? if so why?
    • he doesn't say our or we
    • he says I
    “From the start I tried to deny my Pakistani self. I was ashamed. It was a curse and I wanted to be rid of it. I wanted to be like everyone else.“

    Reader/Audience
    1.  Who is the intended audience?
    • Other people who felt the same as he did (immigrants)
    • people who are interested in his writing
    • people living with immigrants (People who live in multicultural British society) 
    2. Is there an implicit audience

    3. What is the intended readers' background, age, sex education
    ]]>     2018-12-06 08:28:32 UTC https://padlet.com/whof/vzxfeysijezc/wish/311707336     Language and presentation line309b https://padlet.com/whof/vzxfeysijezc/wish/311707999 7. He describes the situations very clearly, and tells it so that we are aware of his identity crises. In a small way he sounds depressed and really insecure about himself. He doesn't fit in, in any of the cultures, and that frustrates him. 
    He is good at expressing himself in the text with a good language (Christina's comments: Careful: What do you mean by "good language"? with some complicated words. 
    "I found it almost impossible to answer questions about where I came from." (p. 3, s. 10) (Christina's comments: I don't see any complicated words in this example....)
    8. Paki (Pakistanis) - negative
    Pakistani Pete (an nickmane for Hanif) - negative

    9. no

    10. Imagery implied: "a teacher purposefully placed some pictures of Indian peasants in mud huts in front of me and said to the class" (p. 1, s. 13) (Christina's comments: This is not an example of imagery (imagery is for instance a metaphor)
     "Did my cousins, so like me in other ways, squat down in the sand like little Mowglis[1], half-naked and eating with their fingers?" (p. 1, s. 16) (Christina's comments: This is a very good example of figurative language/ imagery. A simile (=comparison)
     

    ]]>     2018-12-06 08:32:19 UTC https://padlet.com/whof/vzxfeysijezc/wish/311707999     Language/presentation (questions 3-6) https://padlet.com/whof/vzxfeysijezc/wish/311708854 3.   - It’s divided into “chapters” (first “One: England” and then “Two: Pakistani”) 
    • It’s very “emotional” and “identity-crisis”-ridden (pathos):
    “I found it almost impossible to answer questions about where I came from. The word 'Pakistani' had been made into an insult. It was a word I didn't want used about myself. I couldn't tolerate being myself.”
    • There isn’t really any conclusion at the end. except that he feels out of place in both England, where he lives, and Pakistan where he originally came from: “I felt pretty out of place.” (in india Christina's comments: Careful: Hanif Kureshi is born and raised in England by an English mother and Pakistani father).
    • The theme is introduced in the beginning of the story, as it seems like he is divided between two cultures:
    “From the start I tried to deny my Pakistani self. I was ashamed. It was a curse and I wanted to be rid of it. I wanted to be like everyone else. […]”

    4.  - Most of the sentences are long, and a few of them are short. when he talks about 
    himself and his feelings the sentences are short: 
    “I became cold and distant. I began to feel I was very violent. But I didn't know how to be violent” Christina's comments: Consider: What is the effect of this?
    • when he talks about the people and race the sentences are long: 
    “Why would anyone with a brown face, Muslim name and large well-known family in Pakistan want to lay claim to that cold little decrepit island off Europe where you always had to spell your name?”
    • he uses both paratactic and hypotactic sentences.
    • hypotactic is when he uses more advanced sentences, and with more content.
    • paratactic is when the sentences are shorter and only one subject and one verb.
    5.  The text is dominated by colloquial language. 
    • He uses adjectives + adverbs to describe his text through his emotions and feelings.
    •  Nothing is repeated in the sentences 
    6.  No, not really (because the text is marked by colloquial language.


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