Perspectives

Literary movement

The short story “Paki” by Guatam Malkani can be considered to be a postmodernist work of fiction. 

Postmodernist writing is often experimental in terms of narrative and language. The short story “Paki” uses unusual language w…

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Works with the same theme

A short story that also explores the theme of identity is “My Son the Fanatic” by Hanif Kureishi. In the story, a Pakistani father and son who live in England have opposing views on the topic of religion, which influences their identities in different ways. The father, who does not follow any religion, cannot understand why his son becomes a Muslim and does not like how this changes his identity. In “Paki” a teenage boy also changes his identity in order to fit in with a group of British Asian teenagers who form a gang. 

The autobiography Greetings from Bury Park by Sarfraz Manzoor also looks at the theme of identity through the lens of a British Asian man who is struggling to reconcile his British and Pakistani identity. The book looks at how the author’s identity is influenced by the two countries he is connected to. In “Paki”, the teenagers work to adapt their image in a way that reflects both their Britishness and their South Asian culture.…