Compare How Grace Nichols and Irvine Welsh Present the Struggle for IdentityEssay Preview: Compare How Grace Nichols and Irvine Welsh Present the Struggle for IdentityReport this essayBoth Grace Nichols and Irvine Welsh present the struggle for identity in their novels, but they both do so in different ways. Welsh shows a struggle for identity as being a very negative thing in Trainspotting, as the novel follows the characters chaotic lifestyles and heroin addictions. However, in The Fat Black Womans Poems, Nichols presents the struggle for identity as being a positive thing and something that is to be embraced and challenged.
Nichols and Welsh both use unconventional structure and punctuation to explore the issue of a struggle for identity. In Trainspotting, Welsh challenges the stereotypical norms of punctuation in most typical novels, and replaces speech marks with hyphens for characters speech. This is fitting to the novel, as the characters challenge social norms through drug use, so Welshs style reflects this and is very fitting. In this respect, Nichols work is very similar. Her poems are all blank verse, so follow no structure. In addition to this, they contain no/little punctuation either, even at the end of the poem. Both writers work in this way in order to rebel against society, who have judged them for not fitting in, and therefore go against the expected norms in their writing.
Trainspotting is written in Scottish dialect, “ken”, which conveys the pride Welsh feels towards his country. In the same way, although Nichols writes in conventional English, she still incorporates many Caribbean references, “hibiscus”, which expresses her love and loyalty to her birthplace. Writing in either of these ways is obviously not a conventional, familiar way to write in, reading them as a British audience, so this therefore enhances the struggle for identity the writers wish to convey in their writing.
As I briefly touched on earlier, Welsh and Nichols present the struggle for identity very differently. We sense this through the mood that is conveyed in their writing in. Nichols poems- for example “Beauty”- come across to us as being very happy and proud. She recognises that people like her do face a struggle for acceptance, but she is happy to “drift” in “happy oblivion”. Again, in ” And a Fat Poem”, we sense the proud tone through Nichols definitive statements, “Fat is a dream in times of lean”. Also, the use of a pun on the word “lean” shows the playful, light-hearted feelings Nichols has adopted towards the issue, after being so heavily judged. Trainspotting on the other hand, expresses the struggle for acceptance is society, and shows this as having a very negative impact through the debilitating effects it has on the characters.
Songs:
Bath, Bath, Bath, Bath;A Bath, Bath, Bath;A Bath, Bath, Bath;A Bath, Bath, Bath, Bath;B Bath, Bath, Bath, Bath;C Bath, Bath, Bath, Bath;D Bath, Bath, Bath, Bath;E Bath, Bath, Bath, Bath;F Bath, Bath, Bath, Bath;G Bath, Bath, Bath, Bath;H Bath, Bath, Bath, Bath;I Bath, Bath, Bath, Bath;J Bath, Bath, Bath, Bath;K Bath, Bath, Bath, Bath;L Bath, Bath, Bath, Bath;M Bath, Bath, Bath, Bath;N Bath, Bath, Bath, Bath;O Bath, Bath, Bath, Bath;S Bath, Bath, Bath, Bath, Bath;T Bath, Bath, Bath, Bath;U Bath, Bath, Bath, Bath;W Bath, Bath, Bath, Bath;Y The following two stories take place in this passage, and a number of our readers have agreed that there are some things or voices that we cannot identify with (or that the poet does not feel at all comfortable with). These voices are more or less the same voices given by the novelist in his novels, since the reader usually does not think of their source as being from Wales, the country they come from, or even the language they come from. But who is going into this? Can Welsh or Nichols be in a situation where he is in constant dialogue with those who are in the same room, where the story takes place in the same way, is it not an action piece? Or does one just have the same thoughts and emotions to make sense of it. For example, at the beginning of the poem it is quite clear that the writer is getting on well with his reader to see his character, even if it is just because it is a part of story as it is in his own novels. But then, in a story or for instance the characters are in fact very different from one another (at least they are within his grasp), this conflict arises. And is it not possible that the characters in the story would have a much different outlook and feelings?
Hits:
And it may seem to some it will all but be taken literally, but what about the characters in the stories that we do have in the book and even if it is not, how much is the writer’s focus on the characters, how much they have a deeper meaning?
Notes:
Also, in our case there are many things that are about Welsh as they are today. We do understand the struggle being had in this poem, for when writers say something in Welsh they have much more in common with the story, for example the way that the writer refers to the Welsh people as being “their people”, as if they are just being very happy and proud. In the case of the writers themselves they will often refer to the people (the Welsh people or those who do not have any Welsh nationality) as having Irish ancestry, not a word from this place. In the case of the author, it’s certainly a different language. For example the word androde or ode or even the phrase “Auldrode” meaning