Two scavengers and nothings changed PDF

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Gcse coursework writing piece Both ‘Two scavengers’ and ‘Nothings changed’ explore the theme of human nature. ‘Two scavengers’ compare two different societal groups,in which material possessions are a strong indicator of status at a stoplight,9 am,down in San Francisco. ‘Nothings changed’ is about a bitter man ,who uses contrast to show the unfairness of a society that separates people on basis of skin colour.This is demonstrated in different ways. Furthermore ‘Two scavengers’, implies envy.For example, ‘looking down at an elegant open Mercedes’,this could suggest either they can’t meet the same standard as the elegant couple or maybe their glad there not like them in society as they wouldn’t want to be part of our modern world,when it comes down to materialism.This reinforces pride for the garbage men as they like living life there way as it states ‘standing on the back stoop’,this tells us they are relaxed within there job and they certainly know where they stand when it comes down to their place in society.Likewise ‘Nothings changed’ also uses a touch of pride when it says ‘take it with you,eat it at a plastics table top’,it’s sort of saying that he doesn’t need what they have,it shows a sense of pride to his colour and his culture. ‘Nothing’s changed’ also uses a lot of strong emotins as,this persona is from past experiences of the anarchy between blacks and whites,as they where separated into groups by their skin colours,this was called apartheid. This implies when he says ‘leaving small,mean mouth.’It could suggest that he is trying to make it dirty,so that it represents black on the window,what he is trying to say is the blacks aren’t going to go away as there colour is even on there window and he also may have done this because he is trying to make it a depressing place using a dull and black colour to make there meeting place miserable.This shows resentfulness as the blacks are trying to tell the whites its just as much there property. The poet in ‘Two scavengers’,uses several uses of language features,we notice immeadiantly from the title that it is trying to reinforce juxtaposition as we are able to recognise,how they are judged as it says ‘Two scavengers in a truck,two beautiful people in a Mercedes.’ ‘Scavengers’ is a derogatory term for the garbage men because it suggets that they live off the rubbish of others-a scavenger beetle lives off rotting flesh,this emphasises how revolting scavengers really are,so we get the message that they are useless and disgusting to society.However ‘Beautiful people’ is a compliment.This illustrates right from the start,we feel the garbage men are at a disadvantage. Similarly, juxtaposition is also used in ‘Nothings changed’ when he says ‘down the road working man’s café sells bunny chows’ cafes are quiet place to sit and watch the world go by ,whereas selling bunny chows in a café which is African food,which would be chaos in a café as they would be cutting food and various other things up in a café,would be ludicrous,we can link this by saying it would be a noisy world if there were bin men around everyday and people where making South African food in café’s,so it’s best to just keep to the quiet jobs of being an architect and working in a café.

Moreover in ‘Two scavengers’the poet is showing democracy can be an illusion;the ‘red light’ is all that brings the people together.The oxymoron ‘small gulf’ shows that normally they would be considered to be from very different levels in society,again this is showing the regime of human nature and conveying other peoples opinion as a community,to show there judgement. Equally the metaphor ‘in the high seas/of this democracy’ again uses contrasting ideas; ‘high seas’,creates a sense of lawlessness,whereas democracy should be about equality.The poet is challenging the inequalities in American society that undermine democracy.Throughout the poem,the language is quite modern,simple and sometimes colloquial,foor example ‘cool couplr’,this is also a use of alliteration to emphasise how sophisticated the couple are.Ferlnghetti uses repitition in his poem.Individual words are repeated,for instance ‘elegant’ and ‘scavengers’ to give a judgemental aspect of there symbolism of character in specific words or phrases. In comparison ‘Nothings changed’ also uses symbols to compare colours of the basis of skin colour.For example ‘crushed ice white glass linen falls,the single rose’,this symbolises whiteness and purity,meaning it’s white members only.’Two scavengers’ is very similar in that way as they both give examples of symbolism whther it’s linked to racism or materialism,this is something that is judged in everyday life,and is therefore a key point in human nature. ‘Nothings changed’ states ‘amiable weeds’,this is a use of oxymoron,this particular use of language evokes image of bright colour as it’s supposedly neglected as it stated above the line ‘bearded seeds’ into this is painting an image in our minds of some kind of wasteland,but they’ve managed to change our mind by using that clever use of oxymoron,to bring lightness to the poem. The persona also states a lot of repitition of the word ‘and’,when he says, ‘and my hands,and the skin about my bones,and the soft labouring of my lings’,he uses repitition to emphasise his senses and how he feels,it could either suggest self pity or maybe,fear and anger of what ideas apartheid might come up with next. Such use of of imagery is used in ‘Two scavengers’,as the garbage men are riding ‘a bright yellow garbage truck and wear red blazers;later on we find one of the two scavengers has grey iron hair.These are strong colours.The couple in the Mercedes,though,are almost colourless:he wears a linen suit-natural linen is a cream colour-and they both have blond hair.The poet maybe suggesting that the garbage men have more colour in their lives and that the young couple are colourless and boring.It can be argued that it’s the same with racism as blacks and whites are against each other.It’s superofficial materialism can be linked to racism as judging somebody by material and skin colour is ludicrous as it’s the person inside that really matters. ‘Nothings changed’ also portrays the idea of attitudes as it states ‘no sign says it is:but we know where we belong’,the attitude still hasn’t changed,there still holding a grudge about it which suggests that they can’t forgive. ‘Two scavengers’ also illustrates in our minds the dustmen,looking at the couple is the same as ‘watching some odourless TV ad’-the ways of life portrayed seem impossibly perfect.To the garbage men,the couple are almost unreal and their lifestlye is out of reach. In parts of the poem the tone can change in ‘Two scavengers’,we are encouraged to sympathise with these garbage men who work anti social hours and who become dirty

and smelly as a result,for example’….the two scavengers up since four am/grungy from their route’,the specific detail (four am) and the expressive word ‘grungy’ makes us pity them.This reflects into a different direction when the text states ‘as if anything at all were possible/between them…..’,it seems that the poet would like to believe that the two pairs he describes really could be friends-but the ‘as if’ tells us that he knows that is only imaginary.He feels the democracy hasn’t succeeded because communication between the rich and poor is still impossible. In addition the structure in ‘Two scavengers’ is fairly free.The poet doesn’t use punctuation,instead,he begins a new line when he wants to pause in our reading.This slows the poem down and gives us time to appreciate the idea.Equally,the writing is in separate blocks,to show how their lives are separated from each other.It can be argued that the poem appears very fragmented on the page,maybe to indicate the fragmented or ‘broken’ nature of society. Yet ‘Nothings changed’ is set out is set out in six stanzas on the page,each of eight fairly short lines.This kind of regularity in the layout creates a sense of control:the poet is very clear about what he is feeling-no sudden flying into a rage.Although within that pattern,the length of the sentences varies from a whole stanza to just two words.To explore the effect of the sentence structure in the poem. In comparison,we learn that both poems are linked around an opinion as they both convey a strong element of human nature as they both judged through appearances. By Faye Gibbons 10JO...