Compare ‘Nothing’s Changed’ with ‘Two Scavengers in a Truck’, showing how the poets reveal their ideas and feelings about the particular cultures and traditions that they are writing about
Both poets convey strong ideas about the inherent divisions that are inherent in modern-day society. Afrika conveys his ideas by writing about racial discrimination and segregation in South Africa, informing the reader about the differences in the quality of life for Blacks and Whites. Ferlinghetti, however, decides to tackle the theme of social/wealth divide in San Francisco, U.S.A. Afrika also describes the landscape, nature and setting in much more vivid detail, using it to represent the history of District Six. Ferlinghetti, who focuses on the people who are the protagonists of his poem. Although set in two very different locations; one in a third world country and another in a developed country, both poets deal with the issue of inequality and prejudice.
Afrika and Ferlinghetti both feel very strongly about inequality in society and how people can be discriminated against due to their skin colour or social class. The reader is able to tell that Afrika feels strongly about his particular culture and traditions because he tells part of the poem in first person (singular and plural): ‘I back from the glass’ and ‘We know where we belong’. In this way he vividly conveys the emotions that Black people suffer as a result of discrimination, as he becomes a part of them. Afrika demonstrates the suppressed anger and resentment that clearly bubbles beneath the surface when he says: ‘the hot white inwards turning of my eyes’. Through his use of harsh images such as ‘brash with glass’, ‘it squats’ and the symbolism of danger, blood and violence behind the image of ‘a single red rose’, he demonstrates his strong emotions on the issue of discrimination. Ferlinghetti seems to feel slightly less strongly, as he expresses his ideas in a way that is less harsh and jarring, in comparison with Afrika’s use of language. Ferlinghetti conveys his ideas in a more ambiguous manner. For example, the last line of his poem: ‘across the small gulf in the high seas of this democracy’ could be interpreted as either Ferlinghetti showing his disapproval for a society which allows such divisions to arise, or illustrating his approval for a society which allows such diverse lifestyles to co-exist with alongside each other. However, it is clear that Ferlinghetti feels strongly about the divisions (whether in positive or negative light) that wealth can bring, as throughout the poem, he continually contrasts the two ‘garbage men’ and the ‘beautiful people’. For example, in the first stanza, he illustrates the difference in physical height between the garbage men ‘looking down’ onto the people in the Mercedes, who are down below. This could demonstrate how Ferlinghetti believes that although the beautiful people are higher up in the social ladder, they are lower down in the moral standpoint of things. In the second and third stanza, Ferlinghetti contrasts their appearances; the ‘casually coifed’ woman with the ‘gargoyle Quasimodo’. All this infers to the reader that the ‘beautiful people’ are very much more image-obsessed and fake, in comparison to the garbage men, and perhaps they are the ones that are the scavengers.
