This suggests that the man is an architect and owns his own office. It is possible that the woman works there too. The fact that he is an artchitect suggests that the couple are very well off and probably have a very elaborate lifestyle.
The poet describes the four people brought together by the tracffic lights-
‘And the very red light for an instant
holding all four close together
as if anything were possible
between them’
This suggests that because they are all at the traffic lights together anything could happen and that the four people could even become friends. Nevertheless, the reader knows that this will never happen.
The poet also describes both the man in the Mercedes and one of the garbage men as having sunglasses on, and that although this connects them in some ways there is still a distance between them;
‘The man
in a hip three-piece linen suit
with shoulder length blond hair and sunglasses’
‘And the younger of the two
also with sunglasses and long hair’
The sunglasses create a distance because you can’t see peoples eyes behind them and so you can’t see what they’re real expression is.
The poet describes the garbage men as gazing down at the couple;
‘And both scavengers gazing down
as from a great distance
at the cool couple’
This is changing things around, because you would imagine the cool couple to be looking down on the garbage men as they are said to be higher in society, but the garbage men are looking down on them but, they are described as ‘gazing’ which creates the image that they would like to be the cool couple in the Mercedes.
In the last Stanza, Ferlinghetti makes a mockery of the fact that America says that they have a democracy and yet people are still being treated so differently. He does this by making a subtle but noticeable protest;
‘across that small gulf
in the high seas
of this democracy’
This phrase creates the image in my head that although the four people play such a small part in the world which is so huge- ‘small gulf in the high seas’. It represents exactly what is going on in the world- people are being treated differently, whether we like it or not.
This is the part of the poem where Ferlinghetti protests. He doesn’t think that it is fair that people are treated so differently.
The poem ‘Two Scavengers in a Truck, Two Beautiful People in Mercedes’ is laid out on the page very randomly and has no punctuation;
‘A bright yellow garbage truck
with two garbage men in red plastic blazers
standing on the back stoop’
I think that the poet did this to emphasise the point he is trying to make, that everyone is different.
Whereas ‘Two Scavengers in a Truck, Two Beautiful People in Mercedes’ is a poem protesting about the lack of democracy of this world. ‘Nothings Changed’ is a poem protesting about the divisions in his society.
‘Nothings Changed’ is a poem about Distract 6 in South Africa a place where black people were made to live. It was then bulldozed and all the black people were made to move out. But now it has been turned from a wasteland to having a white’s only restaurant built on it. The poet reflects on how nothing has changed in the attitude towards black people since he used to live there when apartheid was in place, even though apartheid is meant to have been stopped.
In the second stanza, the poet says that there is no board to say that it is district six.
‘District Six
No boards says it is:’
He goes on to say that, even though there is no board he can feel it in his body.
‘but my feet know,
and my hands,
and the skin about my bones,
and the soft labouring of my lungs,
and the hot, white, inwards turning
anger of my eyes’.
This suggests that the feeling that he gets when he is in district six has stayed in his body for along time and he still gets it. District six makes him angry, because of the way blacks are treated there. Also repetition of the word ‘and’ in that section builds up the anger that he feels.
The poet describes the white restaurant that has been built on what used to be the black peoples home, as ‘brash’and ‘squatting’ in the ‘grass and weeds’;
‘Brash with grass
name flaring like a flag
it squats
in the grass and weeds’
The word ‘brash’ suggests that it is arrogant looking. The word ‘squats’ is quite a harsh word, and suggests that maybe the restaurant should not be there. The restaurant is also described as squatting in the ‘grass and weeds’. Weeds are known as dirty, horrible plants and maybe the poet is trying to suggest that the restaurant is horrible and dirty, and that it doesn’t belong there and it’s invading the place. However he is pleased that they are there because they represent something natural and something which belongs to that place, as he feels like he no longer does.
In the third stanza of the poem, I particularly like a line-
‘whites only inn’.
I like this line because it has two meanings. The first meaning which is the most obvious, is that the restaurant is an inn for whites only. The second meaning, which is perhaps a bit deeper, is that only whites are allowed in. I think that this is a very clever line and adds a lot of depth to the poem.
In the fifth stanza the poet describes the white peoples restaurant;
“crushed ice white glass,
linen falls,
the single rose.”
This suggests that the restaurant is a very grand and luxurious place. The poet almost seems like he is longing to be part of that life. It seems like a very different place to the café where he goes(described in stanza 6).
The poet also describes another place – the working man’s café-
‘working man’s café sells
bunny chows.
Take it with you, eat
it at a plastic tables top,
wipe your fingers on your jean,
spit a little on the floor
its in the bone.’
This, he says, is where the black people belong. In comparison to the restaurant the café doesn’t sound very nice. So even though apartheid is meant to have ended the black people are still being treated unfairly.
In the last stanza, the poet remembers his childhood, and how he wanted to destroy the restaurant.
‘I back from the glass,
boy again,
leaving small mean O
of small, mean mouth.
Hands burn.
for a stone, a bomb,
to shiver down the glass.
Nothings changed.’
He says that when he was a boy he wanted to throw a stone through the window as if it was a bomb, and he still wants to, so nothing has changed. Nothings changed also, because he is still on the outside of the restaurant looking in, as he was when he was younger, so nothings changed, in the attitudes towards black people.
‘Nothings Changed’ is laid out in sections. In each section the writer writes about a different part of the poem. This poem is punctuated, unlike ‘Two Scavengers in a truck, Two Beautiful People in a Mercedes’. This creates a slightly more formal way of reading it because you have to take notice of where the pauses are. This also makes the poem feel more important and meaningful, as it is written in the form of an important document.
The main similarities of the two poems are that they are both protesting about something the poet feels strongly about;
‘Nothings Changed’ is protesting about the divisions in society and how black people should be treated the same as white people. Similarly, ‘Two Scavengers in a Truck, Two Beautiful People in Mercedes’ is protesting about people not being treated equally and how the democracy of a country works.
The main differences of the poems are the way they have been written; ‘Two Scavengers in a Truck, Two Beautiful People in Mercedes’ is written in a less formal, more relaxed way. Whereas ‘Nothings Changed’ is written in an angry manner, and the writer clearly wants to make himself heard. The poet, Tatamkhulu Afrika also talks about his own personal experiences, but on the other hand Lawrence Ferlinghetti, just writes about people he might have seen on the street.
I personally preferred ‘Nothings Changed’ by Tatamkhulu Afrika, although I really liked ‘Two Scavengers in a Truck, Two Beautiful People in Mercedes’ by Lawrence Ferlinghetti, I thought ‘Nothings Changed’ was more thought provoking and I think I learnt more about the poet from it, because he was not afraid to express his feelings and opinions. However, I agree with both of the poets on their opinions. I think that everyone should be treated equally and no one should be made to feel like they are worse than someone else, just because they do not have a sophisticated car or because they are a different race or colour.
