brick lane reading

8/16/2019 Brick Lane Reading

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Extracts of:

Rachel Lichtenstein, On Brick Lane (2008)

M. Nilsson, A Post-Colonial Study of Fact and Fiction in Monica Ali ! s Brick Lane (2010)

Monica Ali, Brick Lane (2007) style blog (2009), http://blog.stylesight.com/street/hipsters-paradise



Monica Ali, Brick Lane (2007)



M.K. Chakrabarti!s article, Marketplace and Multiculturalism, published in theBoston Review (December 2003/January 2004), compares Brick Lane!s modern-day drawing room scenes to the insular and limited world of the Jane Austennovels, with which he draws certain literary parallels. Nazneen, the centralcharacter, lives in an “isolated” and lonely world which is unaffected by the

events outside of the Tower Hamlets in East London, where she resides andspends her days alone in a small rented council flat. It can be argued thatperceptions pertaining to language and knowledge of language allow the user to

widen his or her perspective. The lack of language can have several negativeeffects on how the user perceives the world. Arguably, Nazneen!s languageabilities do affect her capability to communicate outside of her own ethniccommunity: The reader is confronted with her inner-most thoughts on the subjectof language: “Nazneen could say two things in English: sorry and thank you. Shecould spend another day alone. It was only another day” (Ali: 19). This quotationstrengthens the argument that language is considered to be a basic tool for

the successful assimilation and integration of immigrants in a new society. Ali

establishes through Nazneen!s thoughts that her absence of language is themain cause of her isolation. One can also argue that she fills her long, isolatedand solitary days by reading the Holy Qur !an. At the onset of he novel religion is

a surrogate for her lack of language, offering Nazneen comfort within theboundaries of her social isolation.



For real though, if I’m in London and the weather is nice on a Sunday, this is where you

will find me. If you live in LDN or you’ve visited Brick Lane on a Sunday then you

know what it’s like. If you’ve not been, I’ll try to describe it as I did at the Chop

Shop…to begin with, there are 3 major flea markets going on in the area… The real thing

to do though is to go down to Brick Lane on a nice Sunday and just hang out and meetmates and ignore the markets completely. There are loads of food stalls (we always get a

double order of tempura shrimp in a paper boat with homemade hot sauce) and outdoor

beer vendors and impromptu band performances and people beatboxing and a vintage

double-decker Routemaster bus that has been turned into a vegan cafe. Dray Walk and

the area next to it is really the center of the action – the Rough Trade record shop there is

one of the best record stores in London. There are outdoor tables but lots of kids get food

and drinks and just sit on the sidewalk. Did I mention that the police presence and ID-

checking and general roped-off rules and regulations that are common in NYC are

virtually non-existent here? I’m just sayin’. Of course with literally thousands of cool

London kids turning up in nice weather the outdoor fashion show is always a good time.

This is one of my favorite places to shoot streetstyle photos in the world. Harajuku caneat their dust. More photos from Brick Lane tomorrow

brick lane reading

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