The portrayal of family in Brick Lane, 453 words.

Monica Ali overall portrays the family in Brick Lane as strong, but like all families they have issues and problems, most to do with the broken culture most shown in the eldest daughter and the protagonist. The motherly role of the protagonist is shown to be very week and unresponsive throughout the beginning of the film where she is in her own world and her mind stuck in her home land of Bangladesh and her constant reminiscing of her sister as she feels she is not where she belongs; "Take me out of the darkness and give me the light" even as she prays she prays for home and be back where she belongs, in the "light" of her country.
The family may be together in one family home but it is as though they are slowly breaking apart, as every character has a different idea of home, yet due to the fact that the bond between the eldest daughter and the mother is really strong and shown in many scenes through the film, an example of this would be towards the end after the mother is chasing her daughter in the streets of London, and one on the underground the daughter looks at her mother and falls to her knees, this represents the final breakage the opposing culture's have had on the family, and she fall's as though surrendering into the arms of her mother.
Another Bengali family that’s introduced in the film is the family across the block, and the way Monica Ali has set out the film makes us as the audience see view this family through the eyes of the protagonist, and a key feature if this is that this family is way more westernised then we have previously seen, the mother of the family is a constant smoker, and the first time we see her light up a cigarette is extremely iconic of the culture change as we see her reaction which reflects the reaction of the audience, as though it is something abnormal to us who live in a very western society, smoking is considered acceptable and vey common.
There are also many aspects o the narrative that portray the family in a stronger light, such as after the affair, there were no arguments over it, and although the husband/father knew of the affair he had almost blocked it out as though it is unacceptable and something that could bring shame upon his manhood or the family. The fact that the affair wasn’t mentioned in the family shows the strength of the marriage and how the parents managed to keep the family together even after such a dramatic thing that could have teared the whole family apart.