24th Annual Student Research Conference
EXILE: An Analysis of Agha Shahid Ali's "Postcard from Kashmir"
Omonseigho O. Esangbedo
Dr. Hena Ahmad, Faculty Mentor
In Agha Shahid Alis Postcard from Kashmir, the speaker is denationalized and finds himself without an identity. He undergoes what Talgedin calls an attempt to link an old home that is no longer home [] to a new home that never feels quite like home speaking of another of Alis poems in Reversing the Sentence of Impossible Nostalgia. The narrator, an exile Kashmiri, experiences three torments; the regret of ever having left his home, the rejection of feeling like an outsider, and the struggle of coming to terms with the changes that would have inevitably occurred in his absence. This inward battle is shown as he looks at a postcard photograph of Kashmir. The narrator is harshly awakened to the reality of his displacement from home as he sees that all that is left of his Kashmiri heritage is a four by six inch photograph, which is now only a depiction of what used to be.
Keywords: Kashmir, Photograph, Exile
Topic(s):English
Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: 25-3
Location: VH 1408
Time: 1:45