The forth stanza is the shortest one. The speaker now changes to a British person named Michelle. Michelle seems slightly racist but not as racist as Wayne is-“Marlon Frederic’s nice but he’d a bit dark”. Her attitude is similar to Wayne’s attitude in that she is carefree and bored with life. She also has no ambition in life-“Probably work in Safeways”, but she has a lot to cope with-“my mum is bad with her nerves”, which suggests that her mum is going through depression. Michelle says-“she won’t let me do nothing”. This suggests she doesn’t have as much independence as she would like, but she uses her mum’s ill health as an excuse. In fact she just doesn’t want to work.
Stanza five is unusual, because unlike the other stanzas in the poem, an event occurs instead of characters expressing their thoughts and feelings. This incident doesn’t seem to fit in, compared the rest of the poem, but is relevant because the first positive feeling is shown from an emigrant in England. The speaker Ejaz has made a friend and this gives a sense of hope for Ejaz’s future. But in a way this new friendship is quite sad because this boy asks Ejaz in Urdu if he is Muslim, then they became friends, which gives the impression that if Ejaz did not speak the same language and have a similar culture to this boy, their friendship would not have been valid. In Stanza three
Carol Ann Duffy uses the plural form of words, for example: They, Families, We and Us, whereas in Stanza five the singular form of words are used. The contrast between the singular and plural terms in stanza three and five gives the impression that the unity in Africa was much more dominant then the isolation in England, for the immigrants and the racism from Michelle and Wayne seems to have drawn an invisible line between the British and the immigrants, making it difficult for both cultures to mix with each other.
In Stanza six the speaker is racist not because he is arrogant and dislikes people of another culture but because he is ignorant. He says-“I’d like to be mates, but they’re different from us”. This suggests that he thinks they are not good people to be with because he also says-“My sister went out with one”. There was murder” which implies that he is afraid that something violent will happen if he becomes friends with an emigrant. The quote that suggests he is racist is-“Some of them wear turbans in class”. “You can’t help taking the piss”. He doesn’t understand that it is part of a Sikhs religion to wear a turban, maybe because he doesn’t know anything about their religion. This character seems to fear that associating with the emigrants would be bad for his image, or that he might get bullied. This fear could arise from peer pressure because when he says-“you can’t help taking the piss”, it sounds as though the whole class picks on the immigrants and he feels he has to join in.
This character is also sounds like a stereotypical “white male”, because he wants to marry “a girl who can cook with long legs” which shows that unlike Wayne and Michelle, this speaker does want to make something of his life and wants to emigrate-“Australia sounds alright”
The first part of the last stanza is quite picturesque and romantic because the image of a beautiful country is conjured-“Some of my family are named after Moghul Emperors”. “Auranzeb, Jehangir, Batur, Humayun.” This exotic phrase makes the rest of the stanza seem dull and ordinary as a school would be. This character feels proud of his/her culture-“Some of my family are named after the Moghul Emperors”. As oppose to this, Carol Ann Duffy portrays the teacher as being crude, for example-“I didn’t understand what she was saying so I didn’t get any milk”. This suggests that the speaker feels that he/she does not fit in and is unjust that he/she is being alienated.
This poem has many lexical fields that are used for effect. These Lexical Fields can be categorised in groups, e.g.-Games, Food, Religion, Proper Nouns, Jobs, Family and Swearing/Slang/racist terms.
Games:
Tutumantu, hopscotch, Kwani-kwani, hide and seek and “We played in an old village” are all terms that the immigrants use, and “Games are for kids” is spoken by the character Wayne, this shows that the immigrants are more down to earth and they appreciate the simple joys that Wayne takes for granted. Wayne compared to the immigrants is actually more immature. He thinks that just because he is British and supports the National Front, he is superior to others and especially superior to the immigrants but in actual fact the immigrants are more mature, because life means more to them and they are determined to make something out of life
Food:
rice, nan, sausages and milk. Again these terms are not used by the indigenous children, but by the immigrants. This could mean that the immigrant speaker lived a life, in which they ate home-made food and now, coming to England they are given food that they are not used to, for example-“they put some sausages on my plate”. The food they were used to doesn’t seem to be available to them anymore. This also shows that food is an important religious element for them, as Muslims fast regularly to thank and give praise to God.
Religion:
Masjid, turbans, Moslem, Mecca. All these terms except “turbans” are used by the immigrant speakers. The impression this gives is that they are cultured and value their religion. Wayne and Michelle Indirectly mention religion, for example:
“I support the National Front”-(Wayne) and “Get engaged”-(Michelle), but Wayne supporting the National Front, cannot be because he is patriotic, but to show that he is truly British. If Wayne was patriotic he would go forth and find work that involves serving his country, (e.g.-The Army or Navy).
Michelle wants to get engaged, but this is not part of her everyday life. It sounds as though she wants to get engaged so that she can earn some respect and get away from her responsibilities.
Proper Nouns:
Africa, Wayne, English, England, National Front, Arsenal, Masjid, Mecca, London, Heathrow, Safeways, Marlon Frederic, Madness, Michelle, Ejaz, Urdu, Australia, Moghul, Ayranzeb, Jehengir, Batur, Humayun and Jhelum.
Proper Nouns are used throughout the poem. This is the only sign of unity and something that all cultures and religions have in common, because proper nouns are basic grammar which is used everyday in our language. The only difference in language, between the immigrants and the indigenous children is the fact that the British speakers use a lot of slang in their language and the immigrants speak Standard English. Their English is fluent and flawless. This is unusual because the British speakers degrade the immigrants, when in actual fact the immigrant’s English is better and they should be appreciated and not discouraged because of their creed, colour or religion.
Jobs:
Safeways, “I don’t suppose I’ll get a job”-(Wayne), Teacher, Army and “I have hope and am ambitious”.
Most of the indigenous children talk about jobs, but it is the immigrants that are ambitious, it’s just that they are not given the chance to show this.
Family:
My mother, Dad, Families, My mum, sister, family.
These terms are used in all the stanzas except stanza five.
This means that whatever the religion or culture families are important to all of the speakers.
Swearing/slang/racist terms:
“Paki-bashing and pulling girls knickers down”-(Wayne), “You can’t help taking the piss”, “She won’t let me do nothing”-(Michelle), mates and dead good. None of the immigrant children use these terms which suggests that they are more polite and are not used to violence, because they probably lived a rural life. The slang used by the indigenous people shows that they are not as civilised as the immigrants and this could be because of their background or the way they were brought up.
Themes and messages:
In this poem the theme is not only cultural clashes but racism by examining the tensions between different cultures, Carol Ann Duffy, creates a serious and realistic atmosphere, because racism does happen, especially in areas where people do not have good backgrounds. Sometimes a lot of racist people have problems of their own, but because they have difficulty in dealing with their problems they try to pick faults in others.
Carol Ann Duffy shows this in Comprehensive because of the slang and swearing used, and also because of the way the emigrants take the blame for the indigenous children’s faults.
Also, this poem could be used to increase racial awareness, because England today is generally more civilised in terms of racism and prejudism, so some parts of this poem may shock people and make the reader realise how being of different religions and culture can cause so much conflict.
Carol Ann Duffy is also very critical of British people in 1985.
In comprehensive, Duffy shows the shallowness of the British as oppose to the beauty and niceness of the immigrants, giving the impression that the British were cruel and ignorant, which is not always necessarily true.
Conclusion
Carol Ann Duffy is quite brave in that she is not afraid to write about controversial topics or topics that could cause a lot of debate. In comprehensive Duffy writes in this way, by being bias and portraying the British people as the culprits and the immigrants as the victims. This poem was written a year before I was born, so I am not able to say if in 1985 racism was an issue and if this poem is dated, but my parents saw racism towards Hindu and non-British people, when they were young and even as adults they received racism themselves ,so maybe in 1985 racism was an issue. But nowadays this poem is quite insulting towards British people, especially people who were not racist and are not racist. Not all British people are racist, even if they were when this poem was written. In my opinion everyone is an individual and should not be stereotyped, although unfortunately some people still act as this racist stereotype describes them.
