The circumcision of Sajid

One part of the film deals with the circumcision of Sajid, the youngest boy of the family who's 12 years old. Normally this would be done earlier, but in this case the parents of Sajid, George and Ella, forgot about his circumcision. Nevertheless George catches up on that directly when it attracts attention to the mullah in the mosque.

It is very interesting to analyse how all the family members deal with this kind of taboo topic because such an analysis can reveal a lot about a characters standpoint.

George:

During the scene he talks about religious and social reasons which allow a circumcision. He's convinced that a foreskin doesn't belong to a man. For him it is an ugly and disgusting skin that has to be cut. Especially his choice of words shows that: “...your son got bloody tickle-tackle..”

Here one can really find a lot of typical attitudes of the character of George. His religion and his reputation is very important for him. By his will to wed his eldest son, Nazeer, and afterwords Tariq and Abdul, he shows that he wants his children to keep his Pakistani traditions alive. He thinks that therefore his children will become happy but this a fatal error.

Ella:

For Ella a circumcision isn't as important as for George. She isn't Muslim, so there's no religious law saying to her that having a foreskin is forbidden. Nevertheless he doesn't say anything against the circumcision of Sajid although she sees that Sajid fears the operation. That's why she says to him: “It is only a little operation. It won't hurt.”

After the circumcision Ella regrets a bit that she let George be and doesn't says anything against the operation. She asks her friend Annie whether she's a good mother. That shows a conflict in her: On the one hand she loves her husband, but on the other hand she also loves her children who fear her husband because he wants them to do things they doesn't want to. So she really doesn't know what she should do. She's caught between to stools. Should she agree with George or should she help her children and be against her husbands decisions?

Sajid:

Sajid really fears the operation. He locks himself in the little cabin in the backyard. This action just as his jacket that he wears in the whole film shows that he's introverted, so he doesn't want to show his penis to other people or to let it cut by other people although it wouldn't hurt.

Meenah:

In a discussion with her elder brothers Meenah asks essential questions (“Why do they cut them off?”). It shows that she's not informed about circumcisions. She only sees that she can tease Sajid with this issue, so she rips the drawing of Saleem after the circumcision in front of Sajids eyes.

Maneer:

Maneer is a very religious character. That's why he wears a religious cap and sandals. In addition to that he's called Ghandi because of his deep relationship to the Islam.

So his attitude to the foreskin and the circumcision is that “foreskin is dirty”.

Saleem:

Saleem doesn't think like Maneer about foreskin. For him, if it is dirty, it won't be there. He draws a penis with foreskin and says that the foreskin protects the end of a penis. So he thinks very positively about it.

The fact that Saleem draws a penis shows that she really likes to draw. In a special college he learns to draw secretly because his father doesn't allows it.

Tariq:

Tariq considers the foreskin as disadvantageous during the sex. Without foreskin your feeling would be better during the sex. Therefore it is cut away, he explains to Meenah.

Also the attitude of Tariq shows a lot about his character. He really likes to have sex, to kiss and to party. He's a kind of womaniser. That one can find out in the scenes where Tariq kisses Stella intensively and in the scene where he and Abdul go to a disco in Bradford.