Rasool Bibi

Outer characterization

Rasool Bibi Manzoor is a key character in Sarfraz Manzoor’s autobiography Greetings from Bury Park. She is Pakistani and “distantly related” (My Father’s House, 11%) to Mohammed, whom she marries sometime in 1960. Just like her husband, Rasool Bibi also does not know the exact date when she was born: “Her official birthday is 1 August 1933 but again, she does not know the true month or year that she was born” (My Father’s House, 11%). 

When she was a teenager, Rasool Bibi’s father died, so she was forced to help her family by “helping her neighbours with their cooking and cleaning” (My Father’s House, 11%). Her marriage with Mohammed was seen as controversial, as his relatives were against him marrying a girl with no prospects. Rasool Bibi and Mohammed have four children together: Navela, Sohail, Sarfraz, and Uzma. 

In Britain, Rasool Bibi starts working as a dressmaker and is often helped by her children. A few years after her husband’s death, Rasool Bibi has a stroke, which affects one side of her body. She gradually recovers. 

Inner characterization

After getting married to Moha...