Compare the way Mary Casey and John Agard present identity in the Class Game and Half Caste
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Introduction
Compare the way Mary Casey and John Agard present identity in the Class Game and Half Caste Both poets are showing their identity across to the reader. However they are doing it in different ways. The layout for The Class Game- Mary Casey is a monologue. A monologue is a short, alone speech. This makes it easier for the reader to understand the point of the poem and it makes it more effective. It makes it seem as if they are talking straight at the reader. It has no rhyme scheme. The layout for Half Caste- John Agard is a performance piece as it was written to be read out loud with tone. The poem is made up of three stanzas of different lengths. He also writes in short sentences and no punctuation. This makes it easier to see the non-standard English. Mary Casey's 'The Class Game' shows the differences in the different classes. However in the end she tells us that she is proud of her class no matter how poor she is. ...read more.
Middle
She uses many poetic devices such as repetition when saying 'How can you tell what class I'm from?' This makes the point clear that she is exploring class differences and their attitudes. She also uses imagery: 'Does it stick in your gullet like a sour plum?' This gives us an unpleasing image of a sour plum stuck in your stomach just like caring and making a big deal out of her class. John Agard's 'Half-Caste' shows us how ridicule people are to think that if you are mixed of things then you are half made: 'Standing on one leg. I'm half-caste' He makes this point because he was born in Guyana and is mixed nationality, his mother was Portuguese but born in Guyana and his father was black. He demonstrates the attitude of the kind of people that consider people of mixed things are inferior to themselves. The first stanza is only three lines, and in those three lines he is putting himself across. ...read more.
Conclusion
He is showing it all by using examples that relate to his own body. 'Ah listening to yu wid de keen half of mih ear'; 'Ah looking at yu wid de keen half of mih eye'; 'an when I sleep at night I close half-a-eye' He is making fun of that idea but at the same time h is angry and uses an aggressive tone. 'but yu must come back tomorrow Wid de whole of yu eye An de whole of yu ear An de whole of yu mind' John Agard is asking the reader to return tomorrow with the 'whole' of their eye, ear and mind. By this he means that the reader must open up their minds to a new way of thinking. He makes it seem as if they are the 'half-caste' because they only have one eye, one ear and half of their brain is working. He doesn't write the poem in correct spellings and doesn't add punctuation which makes the reader understand part of his point. John is not proper English and is writing in non-standard English. He spells his words the way he hears it. ...read more.
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