‘Vultures’ and ‘two scavengers’ present the people that feature in the poems, in very different ways. ‘Vultures’ focuses on the presentation of the, ‘Commandant at Belsen camp’. The poet, Chinua Achebe contrasts his job as the Commandant; a person who authorises the murders of innocent people, ‘fumes of human roast clinging rebelliously to his hairy nostrils’, to a father who will do anything for his child, ‘pick up a chocolate for his tender offspring’. All of this dialogue can be found between lines 30 and 40.This suggests that he tries to dismiss the fact that he has permitted many terrible things but that the fumes are something that are impossible to be rid of. Despite the fact that the Commandant has witnesses such horrifying events, he has a contrasting side. This is shown through the poet’s use of emotive language, ‘a tiny glow-worm of tenderness’. This allows the reader to picture the Commandant as a devoted father to his child.
The poem, ‘Two Scavengers’ presents the people in the poem in pairs. These pairs are the, ‘two beautiful people in a Mercedes’, and ‘two garbage men’. There is a point in the poem where all four people are presented together. This is at the, ‘red light’, that holds, ‘all four close together’. Presenting the people in pair shows the difference in class. The people in the Mercedes are, ‘elegant’, ‘cool’ and ‘coifed’. The poet uses detailed description to present the couples. There is a lot of description to describe the, ‘elegant couple’ but not a lot to describe the,’ garbage men’. I think that this is because the poet is less interested in the, ‘garbage men’ and wants to spend more time developing on the detail of the couple in the car. The poet uses very visual words to present the couples making the appearance easier to picture. The poet also uses the techniques of near and far. By this I mean that the couples are close together at that moment, at the ‘red light for an instant holding all four close together’, but in reality there are far apart, in the sense that it is the way that society sees them, that determines their social status.
Both poems are about the differences between people but using the same technique. ‘Vultures’ presents the ‘Commandant of Belsen Camp’ in the roles of the ‘Commandant’ and in the role of a doting father. This is similar for, ‘two scavengers’ in the sense that the couples are both living different lives.
The poets present the people in their poems in different ways but there are some similarities in the techniques used. ‘Vultures’ uses powerful description such as, ‘human roast’ and ‘bashed-in-head’ where as ‘two scavengers’ uses the technique of comparing the two couples to present the people.
