Nothings Changed :: Afrika Culture Cultural Poems Poetry Essays

Nothings ChangedIn nothings changed Afrika describes the cultural difference betweencoloured people and whites. He represents this by using many differentpoetic techniques, he does this by emphasising that there is acultural difference between them, he shows this by using a excellentvillage in Africa called District six.The prenomen of the poem suggests that when the whites destroyed Districtsix and built a new village, for coloured and whites to mix, it didnot work. He shows this with the feeling of being unwelcome, in thevillage that use to be his home when he was a child. In this poem thecultures are divided because of wealth and power.In stanza 1, Afrika clearly builds up a sense of his impatience at thecontinuing injustice. As he walks through District six, once sofamiliar to him, he feels an outsider. He begins his poem with shortmonosyllabic words, small round stones, which adds a feeling ofsharpness to the tone which suggests his anger. In addition, theonomatopoeia word cl ick emphasises his anger because of his sharpaggressive ck sound. Secondly he begins to use raspy and aggressivewords, for example the word thrust is a very harsh and unwelcomeword, and it sounds very violent and aggressive. In this poem Afrikauses the symbol of weeds as the weeds are unwelcome, the weeds andAfrika are similar because they are unwelcome as they are bothoutsiders.Afrikas hatred for what he believes it continually discriminated,this it shown as a symbol with the whites only inn, Afrika uses aword brash which shows his vulgar, garnish and ostentations intoappearance. Also alliteration is used in guards at the gatepost withits aggressive g sound, to reveal how intimidating it feels.Secondly there is a sense of unwelcome ness this is symbolised withthe imported trees, menus and luxury foods additionally there isrepetition of the word scratch this symbolises a barrier physical andpsychological as he is not allowed in. In the poem nothings changed, Afrika compares the wo rking-mans cafeto the up-market restaurant. He compares the imported trees, menu, tothe cheap and basic cafe, this is shown by when he says we know wherewe belong, and this says that he knows that he cant go into theup-market restaurant because of laws and feels that he doesnt fit inthere. Also in this stanza there is also a symbol its in the bone,this symbolises that his culture is inside like it is imbedded insidehim, he also shows this by expression wipe your fingers on your jeans it