The Escape (summary and short character analysis)

Alternativer Bildtext:

back to Pakistan for a few months to visit his family -notices that he called Pakistan home and when he thinks about it he is unsure whether that is the truth -three days later he left for Pakistan and is greeted by his family there at the airport -visits his parents graves and sobs, notices how strange it would be to be buried on a whole different continent than his parents -wife did some charitable work in Pakistan in a village which he visits -story reveals that the English capital is not for him as he is very shy and uncomfortable every time he goes out but at the same time he feels uncomfortable in Pakistan as well and the situation is very awkward. "Flashback": -began a knitwear business when he first came to Manchester -he worked his way up to a point where he didn't have to worry about money anymore "Present" -visits the family who his wife financially supported -woman cries over death and eventually Samir bursts out into tears as well -the family reminds him of how lonely he is back in the UK, living in his big house all alone -he offers to keep on supporting them financially in the future -leaves their home without being recognised or recognising anyone -leaves Pakistan after only a week (i guess...) -on the plane he sits next to a man of his age called Ibrahim, they have very similar life's and talk about why they visited their "homeland", turns out they are unsure which one is the homeland -in the end Samir says he wants to escape to the UK and to a new home which is an elderly peoples home -leaves his five bedroom home to his children and his saving for the family in Pakistan -calls the elderly peoples home his home in the very end Notes -younger generations (no direct immigrants) have better education (->student at Harvard, sports manager -Samir says "his family" which is also the family of his children -> implies that they may not have a lot of contact to them and are far more integrated into the UK -> would definitely call the UK their home -Samir can't identify where he really belongs -> Pakistan is his origin but he doesn't feel comfortable there because his parents are dead; his childeren (+) all live in the UK but there he doesn't feel home either -speaking English is hard for him and he knows no-one in the UK, whereas in Pakistan he can utilise his mother tongue -however in Pakistan he doesn't know a lot of people either because he left early and when he visits the family there's no one of his age and no-one who recognises him -both countries are so different UK: mostly white people, hardly "brown ones", very high buildings, lowers samir's self esteem Pakistan: poor country, same ethnic group. -example of immigrants who built themselves a new and very good life without having to worry about money BUT they didn't fully arrive mentally in their new country and will forever miss a part of their origin, even though the country they moved to is economically more stable -even tough he succeeded in having everything other refugees would dream of, he is empty inside (obviously worsened by his wife's death) but he doesn't feel comfortable at all -he wanted to stay in Pakistan for a few months but returned to England much sooner, as he notices there is nothing that makes him happy and he only continued his wife's charitable work and visited parents graves -wife is more important to him than children because he keeps savings for Pakistanis Samir -unfulfilled -lonely -hard working and dedicated, ambitious (escaped poverty) -good-hearted and loving -emotional -traditional and religious (praying)