How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
He knew that he, Millat, was a Paki no matter where he came from; that he smelled of curry; had no sexual identity; took other people's jobs; or had no job and bummed off the state; or gave all the jobs to his relatives; that he could be a dentist or a shop-owner or a curry-shifter, but not a footballer or a filmmaker; that he should go back to his own country; or stay here and earn his bloody keep; that he worshiped elephants and wore turbans; that no one who looked like Millat, or spoke like Millat, or felt like Millat, was ever on the news unless they had recently been murdered. In short, he knew he had no face in this country, no voice in the country, until the week before last when suddenly people like Millat were on every channel and every radio and every newspaper and they were angry, and Millat recognized the anger, thought it recognized him, and grabbed it with both hands. (9.201)
It takes a controversy for someone like Millat to have a voice and a face in England. Perhaps, then, it is not surprising that Millat uses voices that are not his.
Quote #5
"What they want," said Millat, "is to stop pissing around wid dis hammer business and jus' get some Semtex and blow de djam ting up, if they don't like it, you get me? Be quicker, innit?"
"Why do you talk like that?" snapped Irie, devouring a dumpling. "That's not your voice. You sound ridiculous!" (9.250-251)
Millat uses different voices at different times, and this time, Irie is annoyed at the voice he's chosen. To echo Irie's question: why does he talk like that?
Quote #6
This has been the century of strangers, brown, yellow, and white. This has been the century of the great immigrant experiment. It is only this late in the day that you can walk into a playground and find Isaac Leung by the fishpond, Danny Rahman in the football cage, Quang O'Rourke bouncing a basketball, and Irie Jones humming a tune. Children with first and last names on a direct collision course. Names that secrete within them mass exodus, cramped boats and planes, cold arrivals, medical checkups. It is only this late in the day, and possibly only in Willesden, that you can find best friends Sita and Sharon, constantly mistaken for each other because Sita is white (her mother liked the name) and Sharon is Pakistani (her mother thought it best—less trouble). (12.107)
The way that people read identity from the outside in is changing; names don't necessarily indicate ethnicity. And this ethnic anonymity provides us with an opportunity to rethink identity. Where does identity come from? And what does it mean?