Compare and contrast the ways in which the poets present injustice in "Two Scavengers in a Truck, Two Beautiful People in a Mercedes" and "Nothing's Changed".

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Compare and contrast the ways in which the poets present injustice in "Two Scavengers in a Truck, Two Beautiful People in a Mercedes" and "Nothing's Changed".

"Nothing's Changed" by Tatamkhulu Afrika is a protest against white authority- and against supremacy over all underprivileged, mistreated, weaker members of society by any power group. The focus of this disapproval is the Apartheid approach which subjugated white South African thinking.

Tatamkhulu Afrika, writer of "Nothing's Changed", lived in Cape Town's District 6, which due to apartheid in the 1960's was unfortunately declared a 'whites only' area. Afrika was forced to evacuate his home land and some many years later, just after the official end of apartheid, Afrika set about writing this poem during a time of hope, in which his poem became an autobiographical verse.

In "Nothing's Changed" Stanza one, Afrika invites the reader to stand in his childhood shoes and observe the on goings during apartheid. Although Afrika is recalling a past experience, through writing in the present tense Afrika incites the reader to relive the occurrence. By doing this he creates a vivid read in which the reader can identify with. As the poem develops it is easy for the reader to imagine that he too is walking, seeing and breathing everything that Afrika also overcame. Afrika continues to make the reader feel as if they are there by imitating the rhythm of a light and quick heart beat through monosyllabic words. He makes the reader feel uncomfortable as they find themselves unwelcome by hard stones to bare feet, and whilst enthralled the reader notices the physicality of each word and the hard 'c' sounds found in 'cuffs', 'cans' and 'crunch' stress the emotions and fear felt within the child.

Stanza two develops a gradual build up of anger consuming a whole being through the use of repetition. The stress on the 'and' emphasises the emotional force and the anger is progressively intensified, Afrika furthers the resentment by also increasing the length of the lines. Afrika draws attention to the body parts mentioned: feet, hands, skin, bones; suggesting that his whole body is aware that District 6 hasn't changed even though there is no sign to say it. The reader recognises and relates to Afrika's past feelings of anger, aggression and injustice;

"And the hot, white, inward turning anger of my eyes"

The reader feels blinded by the anger and is almost consumed by it.
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Stanza three creates tension. Afrika begins to describe a symbol of anger but the reader isn't made aware of what it is until the end of the verse:

"Brash with glass,

name flaring like a flag,

it squats

in the grass and weeds,

incipient Port Jackson trees:"

The word "brash" gives the reader an impression of arrogance and ostentation and paints a picture of a loud, cheap and unsightly building. The idea of a name "flaring" suggests that that it is there to attract attention to confirm its status and supremacy. ...

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