Alienation is a common result of migration
“Migration is a process of communal change where an individual, alone or accompanied by others, because of one or more reasons of economic betterment, political disruption, education or other purposes, leaves one environmental area for prolonged stay or permanent settlement in another geographical area. Any such process involves a first a sense of loss, displacement and alienation which is a common result of migration.” (Online reference) Sarah Gavron the author of the film Brick Lane, which portrays the lives of Bangladesh immigrant families, having a multi-cultural life. The circumstance of alienation which has social, psychological and ethical dimensions, is shown in a classic immigrant situation, by the character of Nazneen and her family. Nazneen, as both a Bangladesh immigrant and a woman coming from a male-controlled society, experiences social and psychological alienation in certain periods of her life. In the study, Nazneen and her daughter Shauna will be analysed by referring to the film with reasons and results in the environment of alienation as an immigrant and as a woman.
The character Nazneen, is exposed to alienation from a very young age. As a child being sent off to a completely different country, with no alternative option relates to multiple child migrants all over the world. When she arrives in her new country, her experience with isolation doesn’t get left behind. She remains restricted as she has no one in her country that has shared a common childhood background, and she perceives everything in her world from behind closed doors, as that has been seen as socially acceptable by her home culture. During a scene in the film we see Nazneen in her home watching through the closed blinds of her window, at the people that so freely walk the streets earning money with their everyday jobs, something that Nazneen envies and is prohibited to do by her husband. Even perceiving the outside world through her...