One way the poet brings across the old man’s helplessness is through visual imagery. One simile is ‘Like a monstrous animal caught in a tent’. This gives the impression that the old man is huge and to be feared, as if he were caught out of his surroundings where he is not comfortable. It also makes it sound like everyone would be staring at him as if he was in a freak show.
Another simile is ‘A few yards of floor are like a landscape’. This emphasises the point that every step for the old man is a huge hurdle and a short space seems much further when walking at the old man’s speed. A final simile is ‘his hands like wet leaves’. This makes his hands sound lifeless and makes them seem as if they just cling to objects as they have no power.
There is also a metaphor about the man's useless hands – ‘his hands have no power’. This gives the impression that the old man is a machine that has broken down, maybe because of old age like the man. This links in with saying he ‘levers’ himself up in the same line. Another metaphor is ‘inch by inch we drift towards the stairs’. This makes it sound as if they are moving so slowly that it’s more like drifting along the floor than walking.
Another technique that brings across the slowness of walking with the old man is repetition – ‘And slowly we go down. And slowly we go down’. This use of repetition emphasises the slowness and agony brought about by the simple task of walking down a flight of stairs, making it sound like the ordeal it must have been. Repetition is used again later to continue this feeling when the pair are going back up the stairs; ‘he climbs, and steadily enough. He climbs, we climb. He climbs’.
Morgan also uses words with negative connotations to convey the agony of the old mans life. The poem is full of these words, such as ‘dismal’, ‘doubtfully’, ‘feebly’, ‘embarrassment’, and ‘shame’. They are used throughout the poem to give it a depressing and bitter tone, as if all of the old man’s life is like this.
The sentence structure of the poem also helps bring across the ideas of helplessness and pity. When the old man speaks, hyphens are used make him sound nervous: ‘I want – to go to the – toilet’. This makes the old man sound like a dependant child who has to ask help for the most embarrassing and personal needs in public. Commas are also used to show the problems of the old man. ‘Long blind, hunchback born, half paralysed’. This listing of numerous negative grievances increases the pity felt for the man. It also creates a strong and less than positive view of him. The last line of the poem is short and abrupt: ‘Dear Christ, to be born for this’. This shows Morgan’s anger and sorrow, and how much his encounter with the old man has affected him.
The main themes of the poem are old age, helplessness and life and death overlapping. The man is so disabled and he needs help with so much that to me his life is overlapping with his death. In ‘In the Snack-bar’ the poet deals with issues that are universally important. Edwin Morgan has subtly touched on the big question that everyone will have to ask themselves – ‘What is the point of our lives? Why are we really here?’ One day, everyone will die. Some young, before they have really lived. Some (the lucky ones?) will last until they are old and helpless again, to when they are back to being a child who people pity because they have nothing to hope for, except that whatever comes after death is better than what meagre excuse for a life they have now.
When I read the poem for the first time it was just a disgusting poem about a loathsome old man being taken to the toilet. Then when we discussed it in class I felt strong emotions I don’t usually admit brought to the surface; fears about life, growing up, the future and the present. It made me think for about half an hour but then I locked those feelings back up. ‘In the Snack-bar’ touched me but it didn’t change me. I knew already that there are bad things in the world as I had been repulsed about old age before. Morgan talks about important issues to some extent, but only by giving observations, not views or emotions. He doesn’t allow himself to see the old man as anything other than what he can see with his eyes. He doesn’t think that the old man may have had a family or a past, or at least in no way shows these thoughts to us. I think that this is the easy way of writing a poem. He doesn’t give his emotions, he doesn’t bare his soul but makes us think for ourselves. He creates a picture and almost dares us to feel disgust for the old man without saying what he feels.
In conclusion, I haven’t and probably never will make up my mind on whether I like ‘In the Snack-bar’. It is definitely an interesting poem in the way that it is well-written and full of literary techniques. For people who have not thought much about what it would be like to be elderly and disabled it is a good eye-opener as it really puts you in the position to think, but whether it is really about serious issues is debatable.