In the third stanza, the writer starts to show what he is angry about, ‘Brash with glass, name flaring like a flag,’ this shows that the writer is getting more angry by walking closer to where he is going. He also shows that the area is still growing, ‘in the grass and weeds, incipient Port Jackson trees:’ this shows that District Six is still developing. He also shows he is walking by or near to a posh place, ‘new, up-market, haute cuisine,’ this shows that the place he is describing is expensive and upper class. The writer also shows that the place is split into two by racism, guard at the gatepost, whites only inn.’ This shows that the town is racist since white people have come to the town, and district.
In the fourth stanza he shows that the black people have gotten use to the place and know their place, ‘No sign says it is: but we know where we belong.’ This shows that the writer and his race know there place in the society of District Six. The writer also shows how much he wants to be in the inn, ‘I press my nose to the clear panes, know, before I see them,’ this shows that he wants to be inside the inn and treated the same as everybody else. He also shows how it is in the white only inn, ‘there will be crushed ice white glass, linen falls, the single rose.’ This shows that the white people are being treated far more supreme and better than the black people,
In the fifth stanza, the writer shows that the black people have a less special place to eat, ‘Down the road, working man’s cafe sells bunny chows.’ This shows that the black people have to get a cheap take-away rather than an expensive cuisine, this quote also shows that the black people are the only ones who work and white people don’t. He also shows that the black people are not allowed to eat in the cafe, ‘take it with you, eat it at plastic table’s top, wipe your fingers on your jeans,’ This shows that the black people are not allowed to eat in the cafe and that they are not allowed a tissue to wipe their hands and fingers on. The writer also shows that the black people were meant to be rude all the time compared to a white person, ‘spit a little on the floor: it’s in the bone.’ This shows that the white people think it’s in the black people’s genes to be rude.
In the sixth and final stanza, the writer shows that he has got annoyed with the inn he decides to step back, ‘ I back from the glass, boy again,’ this shows that he is getting angry with the inn. He also shows that he is angry with racism, ‘leaving small mean O of small, mean mouth.’ This shows that the writer doesn’t want racism to exist in the world. He also shows that he wants to smash a window on the inn, ‘Hands burn for a stone, a bomb, to shiver down the glass.’ This shows he wants to get into the inn through the window hoping it would shatter the white only inn and racism.
Charlotte O’Neil’s Song was written on a passage from England to New Zealand for lower class people, and was written by Fiona Farrell.
In the first stanza, she shows how she served as a servant, ‘You rang your bell and I answered. I polished your parquet floor. I scraped out your grate and I washed your plate and I scrubbed till my hands were raw.’ She does this to show how she worked as a servant by using first person text for example saying I did this and I did that.
In the second stanza, the writer talks about how she slept and how she lived. She shows how she slept by, ‘You lay on a silken pillow. I lay on an attic cot.’ This shows how servants were treated in the times the poem was written. This also shows how she was living as a servant. She also shows that her masters didn’t like her, ‘That’s the way it should be, you said. That’s the poor girl’s lot.’ This shows that she wasn’t treated very well and it was the same for all lower class servants in the nineteenth century. She also shows that she had to stay up late and wake up early, ‘You dined at eight and you slept till late.’ This shows she had to get up early everyday and go to bed late everyday.
In the third stanza Fiona Farrell shows that her masters thought that poor under-class people were insufficient, ‘The rich man earns his castle, you said. The poor deserve the gate.’ This shows in the nineteenth century there was a structure of class with the most important people at the top.
In the fourth stanza she shows that she is leaving the house and that her masters can now do all the things we she did. She shows that she is leaving the house by, ‘But I’ll never say “sir” or “thank you ma’am” and I’ll never curtsey more.’ This shows that she is not in service of her masters now because if she was she would never think of saying anything like that. She also shows that her master could now be independent, ‘You can bake your bread and make your bed and answer your own front door.’ This shows that she is leaving her masters because she doesn’t like them.
In the fifth stanza she shows how she was treated and how she is now independent. She shows how she was by, ‘I’ve cleaned your plate and I’ve cleaned your house and I’ve cleaned the clothes you wore.’ This shows what she did when she was a servant to let people know what servants did. She also shows how she is not going to be there by, ‘But now you’re on your own, my dear. I won’t be there any more’ she says this because she won’t be there anymore because she is going to New Zealand to escape being a servant. She also shows how she won’t be a servant anymore by, ‘And I’ll eat when I please and I’ll sleep where I please.’ This shows that she is no longer going to be a servant by saying that she is going to do what she wants and not what other people tell her to do.
The last line is different to the rest of the poem because I think it is the most important line which makes you think about the nineteenth century servants and how badly they were treated the line is ‘and you can open your own front door.’ This line sets the whole poem in a way which nothing else could because it makes you think.
The similarities between the two poems are that they are both about discrimination, ‘whites only inn.’ From Nothing’s Changed and ‘The poor deserve the gate.’ From Charlotte O’Neil’s Song, but both these poems are about the writer’s journey through the world involving racism and discrimination.
The differences about the two poems are that they are written from different times, for example Nothing’s Changed is from the twentieth century, where as Charlotte O’Neil’s Song is from the nineteenth century. Also Nothing’s Changed is about racial discrimination, where as Charlotte O’Neil’s Song is about discrimination of class.
Personally I prefer Nothing’s Changed because it lets the people reading the poem know how much racism is still in the world because it is a more modern poem than Charlotte O’Neil’s which is from a later date so it I less eye opening than Nothing’s Changed.
