”Oliver Twist” by Charles Dickens and ”Brick Lane” by Monica Ali Essay

Having read both Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens and Brick Lane by Monica Ali, I am going to concentrate the city question on Brick Lane. Brick Lane tells the story of Nazneen, an eighteen year old moved to London from her rural upbringing in Bangladesh to Tower Hamlets, a close tight community of Bengali families living in blocks of flats struggling to make their way up in the city to earn sufficient money and a civilised upbringing for their children, yet still yearning to go back to their home land. Nazneen is married to Chanu, twenty years older than her, he is educated yet earns his money working as a taxi driver. This novel has clear descriptions of city life, the diversity of the people within and how Nazneen interprets the city from her point of view. There are many ways in which the material conditions of the city are described in this novel, the different areas of the city of London are described from the block of flats where Nazneen lives to the big office blocks in the city centre. City life in this novel begins with Nazneen describing the ‘Tattoo lady’ who lives in the block of flats opposite her, from here we become familiar with the lack of space and understand the very little room they have in the urban areas of London â€Å"Most of the flats that closed three sides of a square had net curtains and the life behind them was all shapes and shadows. But the tattoo lady had no curtains at all. Morning and afternoon she sat with her thighs spilling over the sides of her chair†¦.† By reading this, it is already forming an idea of the main settings of the novel which are the block of flats, very cramped and close, very little sense of privacy. We also get an idea of the type of people living around the area as well, the tattoo lady is frequently mentioned in the novel, informing us that â€Å"at least two thirds of the flesh on show was covered in ink.† Another material condition of the city we come across in this novel is when Nazneen actually considers visiting the tattoo lady at the flat opposite hers, however such is city life that Nazneen reconsiders this â€Å"The tattoo lady might be angry at an unwanted interruption.† Although this is not an actual object described in the city, from Nazneen’s thought we get an idea of the type of people she would come across whilst living in the city, it forms the surroundings of the narrative by mentioning Nazneen’s neighbours. Monica Ali also describes the smell of the surroundings where Nazneen lives â€Å"The breeze on Nazneen’s face was thick with the smell from the overflowing communal bins.† This material condition most definitely helps to form the surroundings of the novel shaping the condition of the area where Nazneen lives. Although Monica Ali has focused on forming the surroundings of the city where Nazneen lives with the smell and the neighbours, she has also formed the novel with the material conditions of inside the flat where Nazneen lives, in the novel Nazneen spends most of her time inside the flat â€Å"to sit day after day inside this large box with the furniture to dust, and the muffled sound of private lives sealed away above, below and around her.† By giving brief descriptions like this it shapes the scene of the narrative from the beginning of the novel, we are informed of the furniture inside the flat, Nazneen mentions that she has never seen more furniture inside one room, with all this, we are already shaping the narrative with the material conditions inside of Nazneen’s flat. Whilst living in the city, Nazneen mentions outdoor surroundings quite often, although she spends most of her time inside her flat or at Razia’s, whenever Nazneen has gone outside the boundaries of her area, we as the are given more description of the actual city conditions â€Å"There were more cars than people out here; a roaring metal army tearing up the town.† By describing the cars as an army tearing up the town, we can immediately shape the city life of the narrative with the pollution and the noise of the cars. We can imagine the dirt and the hustle of the city. â€Å"The people who passed walked, looked ahead at nothing or looked down at the pavement to negotiate puddles, litter and excrement.† This was the material conditions of the city life which helped form the narrative, which helped give the reader an idea of the city life and scenes to which we can imagine Nazneen and her husband walking across. The social life in this novel also helps to form the material conditions of city life and the novel, Nazneen’s social life throughout the novel consisted of Mrs Islam and Razia gossiping about fellow women, she would often visit Razia at her flat, whilst going to Razia’s flat we are given descriptions of the surroundings within Nazneen’s boundary of her estate, we are informed of the â€Å"group of young Bengali men who stood in the bottom of the stairwell, combing their hair and smoking or making loud, sudden hoots†¦Ã¢â‚¬  this was the social life the young men had in the city, they would hang around in gangs not achieving much, Nazneen stayed within her boundaries as well, so it gives the reader an impression that social life within a city should be kept in the boundaries that you live in, like a safety barrier. We are also informed of the material conditions of the corridors and stairwells where Nazneen lives, the front doors are mentioned to be the sam e across the corridors â€Å"peeling red paint showing splinters of pale wood, a rectangular panel of glass with wire meshing suspended inside, gold rimmed keyholes and stern black knockers.† On the wall â€Å"someone had drawn a pair of buttocks in thick black pen†¦Ã¢â‚¬  this helps the reader to form a picture in their minds of the state of city life where Nazneen lives, â€Å"The stairs gave off a tang of urine† Although Nazneen is told to stay within the boundaries of the estate because if she went out people would talk and gossip about her, Nazneen did go out. This was when she got lost, and we as the readers gained more knowledge of the material conditions of city life which formed the narrative, we are told that â€Å"to get to the other side of the street without being hit by a car was like walking out in the monsoon and hoping to dodge the raindrops.† Immediately we can imagine the fast movement of the city, cars going past like buzzing bees, to cross the road, Nazneen â€Å"waited next to a woman and stepped out with her, like a calf with its mother† short descriptions like this form the material conditions of the city life in this novel so skilfully. Throughout the novel, we are not only informed of the material conditions of the city where Nazneen lives or around the area of Bethnal Green, we are also informed of the streets buildings past Brick Lane. â€Å"She looked up at a building as she passed. It was constructed almost entirely of glass, with a few thin rivets of steel holding it together.† â€Å"The building was without end, above somewhere it crushed the clouds.† The material conditions mentioned here are most entirely opposite to the towers described of Tower Hamlets. Although both scenes have very large buildings, the towers in the city centre are described as â€Å"palaces†, with â€Å"entrances and colonnades across the front† this was the diversity of the material conditions of city life which helped form the narrative, because the reader is informed that the city is not the same throughout, every area has its own distinctive features, some parts of the city are very well looked after whe reas others such as where Nazneen lives are forgotten about. The material conditions of city life in the novel are mentioned to the reader in many ways, we are told of the people that Nazneen walks past when she goes to the city centre â€Å"every back she saw, was on a private, urgent mission to execute a precise and demanding plan†¦.† â€Å"They could not see her anymore than she could see God† from this, we acknowledge the independency of the people in the city. Soon Nazneen realises that she does not fit in with these working people, they are dressed smart, they have coats and handbags whereas Nazneen has a cardigan and a sari, although Nazneen was dressed differently, only one woman noticed she was there and smiled at her. By giving details such as this, Monica Ali has formed and shaped the narrative according to city life, every person with its own mission. So far, throughout the novel, only roads and streets, people and buildings have been mentioned. However when Nazneen does come across some greenery, she says â€Å"in this city, a bit of grass was something to be guarded, fenced about, as if there were a sprinkling of emeralds sown in among the blades.† This, yet again is another material condition of city life, although it is not unpleasant like the conditions in Nazneen’s area, green grass has not yet been mentioned up until now, and when it has the grass is guarded with fence, so from this, we can imagine the very few places in the city to relax and enjoy the scenery. We also get the indication that in this novel, for Nazneen there is no place for her to get away from everything, the city â€Å"would not pause even to shrug.† Throughout the novel, the descriptions of the city and the buildings given to us by Nazneen have been described just as Nazneen saw them, however, later on in the novel, when Nazneen’s son becomes ill, whilst in the ambulance van, and with her fear for her son, she mentions â€Å"The city shattered. Everything was in pieces. She knew it straight away, glimpsed it from the painful white insides of the ambulance.† Just as Nazneen’s heart shattered in pieces, the city did too with her, so she is relating the material conditions of the city with her emotions and giving the reader an image of doom and gloom within the city. Although the material conditions described to us previously in the novel have been mostly doom and gloom anyway, Nazneen has only just implied the greyness and dullness of it along with her emotions. â€Å"Frantic neon signs. Headlights chasing the dark. An office block, cracked with light. These shards of the broken city.† Up until now the city was not mentioned as broken, it was just described as how Nazneen saw it, but now, we get the real image of the city, the material conditions which helped form the narrative † The crystal towers and red bricked tombs. The bare-legged girls shivering at the bus stop.† Up until now, Nazneen had simply described the different dress code of non Asian females, now that she saw they were at the bus stop bare legged in the early hours of the morning, Nazneen is ridiculed by them, she talks about them along with the broken city. She is giving the reader material conditions of the city which make it so grim. â€Å"The well fed dogs and bloated pigeons.† This is something Nazneen would never see in her homeland Bangladesh, dogs are of no importance and pigeons always a pest. So now, we get to witness Nazneen’s interpretations of the material conditions of the city life, how she feels it is all wrong compared to her land. â€Å"The cars that had screamed alongside the ambulance, urging it on, parting in waves.† The cars that had previously been described as an army now screaming, this clearly shows the rage within Nazneen and the material city conditions which she so hates. Throughout the novel, London is not the only city mentioned, with Nazneen’s sister living in the city in Bangladesh, Dhaka, she often receives letters from Hasina talking about her home, and the surroundings â€Å"Street is wide and nice. But plastic bag blowing everywhere. Walk in street for five ten minute and by finish you cover in bag on legs and arm and stomach.† From this we realise, that city conditions throughout the world are the same. The little things which give the city its status, the material conditions such as bags on the floor is what makes living in a city so different to other places. â€Å"A wind blew in over the courtyard and fetched up a crisp packet at her feet.† Nazneen although she was in a different country to her sister, they were both in the same situation, both living in a city with material conditions such as rubbish on the pavements and non stopping people. To conclude, the material conditions of city life in Brick Lane are mentioned with such metaphors and descriptions which inform the narrative of the surroundings, the people, the scenery and the atmosphere within. The buildings described in so many ways, the smallest details found on the floors to the stairwells of the block of flats.