In Night of the Scorpion similes are used to make the village seem panic stricken and frightened, unlike the anger shown in Nothing’s Changed. On line 8 in uses the simile “The peasants came like swarms of flies”. This simile makes it seem like anger and makes the child and the villagers seem panic stricken and afraid.
In Nothing’s Changed the language helps to show the man’s anger and the annoyance that he feels with the people. It says “Hot, white, inwards turning anger of my eyes”. This shows that he cannot express his anger and the frustration that is bubbling up inside him.
In Night of the Scorpion as well, language is used to show the feelings, but these feelings are of panic and fear.
The child describes the “giant scorpion shadows” that are thrown up onto the walls by the candlelight. This would be terrifying for a child and it adds to the feelings of fear and shows that the child and the adults are afraid of this Scorpion that is still around.
The contrasting descriptions of the white peoples inn, “Brash with glass...” 17-32, and the description of the black peoples cafe, “the working man’s cafe sells...” 33-40, show the narrator and the poets feelings of resentment and bitterness at the separation between the two groups of people and the unfairness that the black people must eat at the dirty an cheap cafe whilst the white men get to eat at the clean, neat and posh inn.
The poet feelings of religion and rituals are shown as critical as in the poem the ceremonial language and the talk of the next life after if the mother dies seems unhelpful to the child as they seem to only be causing her more pain. “They clicked their tongues” is said in almost a sarcastic sense, laughing at the uselessness of this as they do not seem bothered about finding the scorpion but instead just making noises. Also “diminished by the pain may the poison purify your soul” shows that they feel that the pain is the way of cleansing the soul before the next life.
In nothing’s changed at the end of the poem there is a build up of the anger as it says “The small mean O, of small mean mouth, Hands burn”. These 3 lines show a lot, including the build up of anger that the man is feeling. The language shows that the man is feeling rejected, whilst the “Hands burn” shows that he is very angry and now really wants to take action.
Violent feelings are also shown at the end of the poem when he says that he wants to “shiver down the glass” of the white peoples inn, 45-47. And concludes on a negative note “Nothing’s Changed” as he does not see any difference and still feels separated and angry at the white people. There is no change in the post apartheid world.
However in the poem Night of the Scorpion, the poem ends differently to Nothing’s Changed. The feeling that the child shows at the end is calmer and more relaxed than the rest of the people as he says After twenty long hours it lost its sting. My mother only said...” The ending is like the child is feeling proud of the mothers bravery and courage and is more relaxed after all the panic that everyone has been through.
Ryan Bolton
