Compare how the writers express their ideas in Pessimism for Beginners and A Consumers Report

by anoshan_28 (student)

Compare how the writers express their ideas in “Pessimism for Beginners” and “A Consumer’s Report”

Pessimism for Beginners and A Consumer’s Report both are very similar in how they show how life should be enjoyed more and that we should stop always thinking negatively, being pessimistic. They also both sarcastically devalue life as well as using some humour to convey their ideas, where Pessimism for Beginners is like an instruction manual, telling you how to be pessimistic while A Consumer’s Report has an extended metaphor, relating life to a product.

The poems both reveal how we are very pessimistic, always taking life so seriously and negatively, and end up wasting it. Pessimism for Beginners uses hyperbole saying “bash you head with a stone”, using violent imagery with the word “bash” as well as “peck”. This exaggerates how we think negatively and hence creates the mocking tone of the poem. A Consumer’s Report also shows the pessimism of our human nature when saying “I had it as a gift, I didn’t feel much”. This oxymoron is created through how “gift” is very positive describing life as a miracle, but the next line is negative. This emphasizes how we waste our life, thinking negatively and not enjoying life like how we should. Alliteration is used in Pessimism for Beginners, when saying “venal and vile”. The “v” sound is very plosive and the words are very harsh to show our negative thinking. This is further extended with sibilance, where it says “cursing and hissing”, where the repeating of the “s” makes the sound to be like a snake hissing at you. It suggests that the others are silently planning something as snakes can often be regarded as deceitful and sly. It makes it very aggressive and it reveals how we are always worrying of what others are thinking of ourselves, thinking negatively that they hate you. This feeling of everyone hating you is shown a bit differently in “A Consumer’s Report” which reveals how our life actually has no purpose. It says “to keep its maker in a job”, showing how we are not important to this world, but are just here to be the product of God. This devalues our life and reveals how worthless it is which although is different from what Pessimism for Beginner says, they both create the same effect of making us feel alone. This shows how pessimistic we are always thinking that no-one else likes us. To conclude, both poems are clearly very pessimistic, showing our human nature.

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The poems also use some kind of indirect way of portraying their message, where “A Consumer’s Report” uses an extended metaphor, relating life to a product while “Pessimism for Beginners” is like an instruction manual, being very sarcastic on how to be pessimistic. A Consumer’s Report looks at life as a product and it metaphorically reviews it. It says “I have used much more than I thought”, metaphorically referring to how life is short and that it will finish quickly and therefore you must try to enjoy it. However, the way the message is portrayed is like a product. On the other hand, Pessimism for Beginners uses imperatives to make the poem seem like an instruction manual. At the start of the lines it repeats “don’t” several times, making it sound like a manual with very simple advice stating what to do. In addition, the rhyme scheme is also ABAB with a regular four line stanzas. This makes it seem like the point by point steps which a manual would give; it is very simple and regular. On the other hand, A Consumer’s Report does not use a rhyme scheme or rhythm to make it seem like a report. The poet simply states what is happening and the form which simply goes down the page is similar to a report. This continues the extended metaphor of reviewing life like a product. The poet also says “a lot of labels, sizes and colour should be uniform”, criticizing how people are pre-judged upon how they look whilst mocking that if everyone was “uniform” and not different, then we will be exactly like products in a factory. The words used in this line including “labels, sizes and colours” are words which you would associate with a product which metaphorically links the message to products. The poet uses this extended metaphor because by our modern lifestyles, we are becoming so uniform with so many roles and people telling us what to do whilst also worrying too much. The extended metaphor shows this and tells the reader that we must change and try to enjoy life more. Meanwhile, Pessimism for Beginners relates itself to a report because it gives a tongue-in-cheek tone, where the poet seems very serious about it, but does this to mock the attitude. It makes the tone very sarcastic where pessimism is ridiculed with all these ridiculous statements. Conclusively, A Consumer’s report metaphorically refers to life as a product to show how strict our life has become whilst Pessimism for Beginners is like a report to mock pessimism.

Both poems very similarly use the ending to convey their final message and give a message. A Consumer’s Report says “we are the consumers and the last law makers”. The adjective “last” represents the finality of the statement whilst “law makers” is very strong in conveying that we should decide as the law is final. This emphasizes that we must decide on our own life and should be able to live it as we want. Pessimism for Beginners, on the other hand, in a mocking tone says “they do not want to gouge out your eyes!” The exclamation mark shows the exaggeration of surprise, and “gouge” is such a violent word. The statement is obvious, due to this violent word, so by using the exclamation mark, it ridicules pessimists. A Consumer’s Report also uses a list saying “philosophers or market researcher or historian”, all of which are thought to be very high status jobs which is put emphasis on by the power of three on the jobs. Therefore, by telling you to ignore what they say show the strong feelings of the poet. The list also makes it seem as if there are so many people telling you what to do, and eventually you do not enjoy your life. Therefore, it reveals how we listen to these people too much. In Pessimism for Beginners it says “a small portion of boundless delight” at the end. An oxymoron is used between “small” and “boundless” is used to show how you will get small amounts of extreme happiness when you are pessimistic, rarely being happy but occasionally just for small things, you will be joyful. This sarcastically mocks how pessimism will make you seem so depressed. The final line of A Consumer’s report gives a final statement on our attitudes, saying “the competitive product you said you’d send”. This would refer to “death, reincarnation or heaven”, but it shows that we are never satisfied, constantly looking for something better and then eventually die. We should just try to enjoy ourselves with our life. The final lines of Pessimism for Beginners sums up the whole poem saying “keep believing the world’s out to get you, now and then you might not be proved right”. “Now and then” is used to show that you will only occasionally be happy, and most of the time, people will not like to be with you. Ultimately, both poems give their advice at the end telling you to try to enjoy life and be happy.

In conclusion, Pessimism for Beginners and A Consumer’s Report tell us to enjoy life. Pessimism for Beginners ridicules pessimism using sarcasm and a tongue-in-cheek tone to show how ridiculous pessimism is. A Consumer’s Report takes a stand against how life is wasted worrying and how we do not live life freely enough. Its message is the same of how we should be able to just enjoy our life.