I think that the main difference between the two garbage men and the couple in the Mercedes lies down to one thing which then changes the possibilities of all the other things in their life – their education! I believe that this is an important factor as your education depends on which job or career will be available to you once you leave school and if you haven’t got a good education then there aren’t many career paths open to you, maybe only jobs such as garbage men or road sweepers, but if you are very well educated, then there is a wide variety of careers available to you which will earn you heaps of money unlike a job as a garbage man which gives you money which you can only live off. As the couple in the Mercedes are well educated, then they have opted for a good career that accumulates a lot of money unlike garbage men, who are poorly educated, which therefore they have been forced into a rubbish job that brings in insignificant amounts of money. The main difference in their education also affects other things in both couples lives, such as the vehicles they drive around in. The Mercedes is a classy and expensive car unlike the garbage truck that is noisy, smelly, large and unattractive. The garbage men also dress differently to the couple in the Mercedes. They wear, “red plastic blazers,” (line 4), whereas the cool couple in the Mercedes wear, “a hip three-piece linen suit,” (line 11) and, “a short skirt and colored stockings,” (line14). There is one similarity though in their dress code. The youngest of the garbage men wears sunglasses and has long hair. He is also, “about the same age as the Mercedes driver,” (line 25).
The words used to show the differences between the couple in the Mercedes and the two garbage men are, “hanging on,” (line 6), which I think shows that the garbage men are just going along with life. I don’t think that they are aiming for something high. The sentence, “looking down into an elegant open Mercedes,” (lines 7 and 8), means that the garbage men are looking at what could have been theirs if they tried at school or had the brains to get a good education. The word ‘elegant’ in the sentence also shows that it is swanky! I also think that, “casually coifed,” (line13), shows how stylish and cool the couple are, unlike the two scavengers, as you wouldn’t see some garbage men with cool stylish hairstyles, as they simply haven’t got the money to afford them. I believe that the words, “gargoyle Quasimodo,” which is aimed at the older garbage man on line 22 gives us an idea of how ugly the man actually is and how beautiful the cool couple are, as the words ‘elegant’ and ‘hip’ are aimed at the couple in the Mercedes. The sentence on line 27, “as from a great distance,” emphasizes the difference between the two couples as it shows how far apart the two sets of people are in life. “as if they were watching some oderless TV ad,” (line 29), shows that the garbage men are looking at something that will never happen, it is like they are living in a dream world! Lawrence Ferlinghetti also uses an oxymoron in, “small gulf,” to show how far apart the two couples actually are. From what I can see, the poet uses quite a few action verbs (e.g. Watching, gazing and looking down), to accentuate the differences in the two couples. I also think that he uses a lot of repetition in words to reinforce the differences between the cool couple in the Mercedes and the two scavengers.
In my opinion, the two vehicles that are discussed in this poem are highly significant as it plays up on how wealthy each couple are. I think this, as nobody would be able to afford a classy convertible Mercedes Benz unless they had won the lottery or were incredibly wealthy. The opposite goes for the garbage truck. There is no-way you would see some rich, successful businessman driving to his office in a smelly, old garbage truck. This is very effective at displaying how wealthy someone actually is.
I think that the poet shows the relationship and connection between the two couples really well by laying out the poem in an unusual pattern. Lawrence Ferlinghetti uses a complicated style called ‘enjembment,’ which is how each line drops onto the next. In my opinion, it looks like zigzags across the page. I think that this method is really powerful at demonstrating the relationship/connection between the two couples. The poet also uses a lot of repetition throughout the poem as well as using the idea of what many people think of the USA, which is ‘anything is possible in the USA’. This again displays the relationship and connection between the two couples.
I think that the poet, Lawrence Ferlinghetti is trying to portray how different each person in America is. Some people may be rich or incredibly poor. Some may live in mansions, large houses and grotty flats or a minority may even live on the rough streets. Some people in America may be drug addicts, mega famous superstars but most are just ordinary people like us. I think that the poet is doing this to display the message to us all that just because America may be one of the richest and most powerful countries in the world, it doesn’t mean that everybody who lives in the country are also incredibly rich and powerful. I think that Lawrence Ferlinghetti is very effective in delivering this message to us all.
The poem, ‘Night of the Scorpion,’ which is written by Nissim Ezekiel is set in a house, during the night, in the poorer regions of Bombay that is situated in India. The characters in the, ‘Night of the Scorpion,’ is a women and her husband, along with their children. The scorpion, which is referred to, as the ‘Evil One,' some peasants including the Holy man and God are also included. The poet is totally involved in this poem as it is written in the 1st person. He is the woman’s child. I think that the poet is reliving events, which occurred earlier in her life. She is explaining the story of when a scorpion stung her mother during the night in her hometown of Bombay.
In the ‘Night of the Scorpion,’ we are told that the father is a very religious man who will try everything to make his wife better, as the poem states, “my father, sceptic, rationalist, trying every curse and blessing, powder mixture, herb and hybrid,” (lines 36, 37 and 38). We even find out that the man would go to extraordinary lengths to save his wife in lines 38 and 39, “He even poured a little paraffin upon the bitten toe and put a match to it.” This tells us that the man could be a doctor of some sort, as he knows a lot about plants for medicine. He could also be a priest as he knows a lot of curses and blessings – but I just think that he is a very religious man and more likely to be a doctor. We can tell from the poem that the mother is a very kind-hearted and sacrificing woman as she more or less says that she would die or go through excruciating pain in order to save her children. This can be seen from lines 46, 47 and 48, “My mother only said Thank God the scorpion picked on me and spared my children.” From the poem, I have drawn up a conclusion that the peasants are very poor people who live in a very small house like the mother and father. It also appears that their diet mainly consists of rice as the scorpion crawls from beneath a sack of rice. The peasants are also just like the father as they are very religious and good with plants as medicine.
The language used throughout the poem represents these people very well as there is religious blessings and curses said from lines 18 to 27. This again shows us that these people are very religious as they say a lot of curses and blessings in aid to help the mother who has been stung by the scorpion. The poet uses a simile in line 8, which is, “The peasants came like swarms of flies.” This indicates to us that the father may not have appreciated the peasants arriving as we generally associate flies to be a nuisance. The poet Nissim Ezekiel also uses very complex words in a curse like style to represent these people as very religious.
In my opinion, Nissim Ezekiel is making a point of how kind- hearted and religious Asian people can be. Just because they may be poor, it doesn’t mean that they don’t know a thing or two about medicine, curses and blessings. I also think that she is trying to make an effort to stamp out racism using this point. I think that Nissim Ezekiel is very effective at deploying this point.
