How is “A Pair of Jeans” different from “The Zoo”

Writers:

“The Zoo” is a short story by Tariq Rehman who is a Pakistani writer. He portrays Pakistani

culture with respect to the class difference and points out the economic and social disparities

of the life of the people in Pakistani in general. For this instance, he introduced two different

type of Pakistani families. One is the Ikram Arif who is a contractor of buildings and this

time he is constructed the cages into the Zoo for different type of animals. Ikram Arif belongs

to the middle higher class of the society. While the second family belongs to the middle

lower class of the society and Hashmat Ali is the head of this family they came from

Sargodha to visit the Zoo.

“A Pair of Jeans” by Qaisra Shahraz is a short story based on how a person’s

dressing/clothing can change peoples’ perception of them and cause major impact on

different aspects of their life. She is a Pakistani writer who migrated from Pakistan to

England in her childhood when she was only nine years old. She tries to portray the

generation gap and difficulties faced by the Muslims in Western culture.

Characters:

Tariq Rehman depicted the two different social classes in the Pakistani society. To prove

these classes he uses two different characters Ikram Arif and Hashmat Ali. Ikram Arif

belongs to the middle upper class and he is contractor by profession. Ikram Arif is used to

made a cage for birds instead of bears but he is successful to convince his higher authorities.

Textual Lines:

But Ikram Sahib, said the Secretary wearily, ‘you constructed that lovely place for birds we

imported for you when the money should have gone for the bears.’
The Zoo was success and Ikram Arif, its manager, was commended by the Governor of the

Punjab himself. After all, now the Governor had another place—beside the Badshahi Mosque

and his own palace—to take foreign dignitaries to. Though the cost of the upkeep made

financial jugglers almost give up in despair, they found the money somehow as they always

did when the Governor really wanted something.

While on the other hand, he introduced a character of Hashmat Ali who belongs to a lower

middle class. Hashmat Ali came from Sarghoda to Lahore. His family is hand to mouth and

have two little children. When he came to Lahore he met with Chacha Barkat Ali who told

him the situations of works he had faced with him.

Textual Lines:

Lahore was fabulous indeed, Chacha Barkat Ali told him, but not for village louts like him.

‘Work is not easy to find, son, he said seriously. And, indeed, for about a month he did hardly

anything more than carry people’s luggage to waiting taxies and rickshaws at the railway

station.

The female character, Miriam makes a small blunder as she wears jeans and tank top for

treading along with her friends in an outing on the same day her future in-laws are visiting.

Miriam had planned to arrive early at home to change her clothes to a more traditional garb

before her in-laws arrival but she ends up getting late coming home and her future in-laws see

her in the western attire consisting of tight jeans and a short tank top which bares the flesh of

her waist. Also the lack of a Mehram (any close male family member) accompanying her at

such a late hour in the evening ends in her future in-laws misconstruing her as being a ultra-

modern, independent western female and hence decide to break off the wedding because

they want a more traditional daughter-in-law for their son, Fawad. Miriam who had been

looking forward to the final stages of the wedding preparations and planning life with her
future husband is heartbroken and concludes that her jeans are responsible for creating this

havoc in her life.

Textual Lines:

Just as Miriam reached the gate of her semi-detached house, she heard a car pull up behind

her. Nervously she swept round to see who it was. On spotting the colour of the car and the

person behind the wheel her step faltered--colour ebbing from her face. On pretence of

opening the gate she turned round and tried to collect her wits about her. Too late! They were

already here. Her heart was now rocking madly against her chest and the clothes burned her.

She wanted to quickly rush inside her home and peel them off. She clutched at her jacket

front, covering her waist.

Places:

In Tariq Rehman’s short story “The Zoo”, there are few places mentioned which are Lahore,

Zoo, Village, Sarghoda and railway station etc. Almost all part of the story is depicted in the

zoo where he discussed two different type of families existing in the society. He tries to link

these two classes of the society with the help of human beings and animals in the cage. He

tries to convey the message to the reader that these two social classes never mixed with each

other like human beings and animals in the cage, there is always a boundary wall between

these two social classes.

Textual Lines:

Hashmat Ali was new in Lahore. He came from Sarghoda where he was an agricultural

labourer. But the Malik Sahib who employed him had turned his last into a large orchard.

In “A pair of jeans” by Qaisara Shahraz, she intends to the reader about the western culture.

She introduced a Muslim family who migrated from Pakistan to England. This story shows

how ‘a pair of jeans’ the symbol of westernization in Pakistan as well as the Muslim society

abroad. In Eastern countries especially Islamic states, the western world is seen as
unscrupulous, with lower moral code with indecent lifestyle totally opposite to that of the

traditionally rich culture of their forefathers. She beautifully depicts a dilemma for Pakistani

females especially those living in abroad as their family, in-laws and the Pakistani society

want them to be what-they deem as traditional Pakistani females and free of western

influence in their dressing, lifestyle and mind set.

Diction:

Both writers have used simple language so that the reader can take interest and easily

understand the plot of story. Both writes have used Pakistani type of English language in their

writings. Pakistani culture and traditional values are shown in their writings.

Culture:

Tariq Rehman does not rebel against social humiliation and injustice and accepts that his

characters are more submissive. In his "The Zoo" story, he also has the four people locked in

a small, dark and ugly room with the misery of life compared to the zoo animals, which,

although they were caged, could still have good air, water and light. and an area for their

exercise and could even affect people. Hashmat Ali's quest for a better future for his family

takes him from his village to Lahore, but even here he only manages to make his life a miser.

In all these settings, the wealthy or ruling class continues to make money without caring for

the poor and needy. Perhaps it is natural and correct that the narrator like Tariq Rehman make

a good statement about people's problems, their socio-political differences and that society

solves them. In "A Pair of Jeans," the author shows the dilemma of eastern women living

abroad who were born there and want to unite in this country to adopt their clothing styles, as

this is more practical for every day. However, when women attend their social gatherings, for

example during vacations, weddings, funerals and other events, they wear traditional clothes

of Pakistani women like Shalwar Kameez, Lengha, Sharara, Saree etc. This is due to the

persistence of the previous generation of parents who originally migrated from their country
of origin to western countries such as the United Kingdom or the United States and who hope

that the women of their family have a traditional vision of their original home despite

Women's. born and raised abroad and who may never have visited their parents.

I think the main character's negligence and complete lack of truthfulness towards his future

in-laws caused all the misunderstanding when he presented himself as a fully orthodox

Pakistani woman. I also believe that although "jeans" are the symbol of westernization and

are accused of the whole situation in this passage, the real reason was the lack of a male

family member to accompany them so late now, and this is it was all actually the short tank

top of the main character that showed his life, which was the biggest taboo; Apparently, his

future in-laws could understand the practicality of college students in jeans, but exposing the

skin, especially the abdominal area, was unbearable. Bare skin is considered extremely

questionable and unbearable in the countries of Eastern Islam and even in some non-Islamic

countries. Also, the fact that the main character was very aware of this and was wearing it

awkward means that knowing what he is wearing is not acceptable and reprehensible of what

he should have avoided doing with something longer or worn out, otherwise it might cover

everything. But it's not like that.

I conclude that the passage shows that clothing is very important and how people and society

look at a person's clothing to perceive that person's personality and character, and what the

person's perception of that person will be. If clothing in a different situation is generally

different, you should always pay attention to what they want to wear.