A Comparison of Half-Cast, Nothings Changed, and Two Scavengers in a truck, Two beautiful People in a Mercedes

A Comparison of Half-Cast, Nothings Changed, and Two Scavengers in a truck, Two beautiful People in a Mercedes

All three poems express their anger towards discrimination:

'Half-Caste' and 'Nothings Changed' are written about how racism has

affected them and their lives, 'Two Scavengers...' express views on

class discrimination.

'Half-Caste' is written as if it is been spoken in a Caribbean

dialect, giving the impression the speaker is of a mixed race.In the

poem he illustrates the way he feels about how he is treated as a

''half-caste,half person.'' The longer stansas in the poem tell the

story of how his race has affected his life, and the way he feels

about himself, and the shorter stansa are used to introduce and close

the poem. The poems irregularity in terms of lay out, may illustrate

the irregularity this man feels in his life,he feels he doesn't feel

accepted in either the black or the white community. He quotes ''am i

half a man?''This proves his distress,and although he uses humour the

poem has a serious message.Agard uses repetition effectively thorught

the poem, for example, ''explain yuself, wha you mean?'' This line is

used in every stransa.Agard alkso uses surreal comparissons to express

his emotions to the reader such as ''black key...white key''Here he is

contrasting the black race, and the white race and wander where he

stands in the middle.

'Nothings Changed' by Tatamkula Afrika also uses surreal ides to

illustrate his point.For example, ''A bomb, to shiver down the

glass.''His ideas and the use of harsh vocabulary really shows the

reader what he thinks!The poem is not written to be read in a certain

dialect as this might add an element of humour and this poem is not

intented to be funny. This is in contrast to the way 'half-caste' is

written, althught they both use similar ideas.The dis-oganisation and

lack of uniformity in terms of the poems rhythm and rhyme pattern

suggests the same ideas about the society they live in.

'Two Scavengers...' In this poem Felinghetti uses no uniform