Nothings Changed by Tatamkhula Afrika and Two Scavengers in a Truck, Two Beautiful People in a Mercedes by Lawrence Ferlinghetti
A comparison
The poems “Nothings Changed” and “Two Scavengers in a Truck, Two Beautiful People in a Mercedes” both share the same themes of not belonging, longing for something better and comparing two different ways of life.
In both the theme of social division and the thoughts of the Poet’s are clear throughout. The Poet Laurence Ferlinghetti writes:
“… and both scavengers looking down as from a great distance at the cool couple”
He shows how great the divide is between the people and their status. Tatamkhula Afrika shows how he feels that even though Apartheid has ended, people are still prejudiced towards black people, when he writes:
“Whites only inn, No sign says it is: but we know where we belong”
Both the poems compare two sides of the society that the poets live in. Afrika, in Nothing’s Changed, compares how he lived fighting for equal rights for blacks, whilst he was in the ANC compared to his life now, after the ANC’s ‘victory’ but where the prejudice still remains. Lawrence, in Two Scavengers, compares the lives of the young architect and his girlfriend, to that of the two garbage collectors. In both they show that one of the lives is significantly better and more desirable than the other.
Another theme that the poems share is a longing for an ideal society. The poet Lawrence, is longing for a fairer society in Two Scavengers where he writes:
“as if anything at all were possible between them across that small gulf in
the high seas of this democracy”
He feels this gulf although small is impossible to cross. Afrika, In Nothing’s Changed, wants to go back to how he lived in district six before apartheid, when people of all races and beliefs lived peacefully. He shows this when he says:
“No board says it is: but my feet know”.
He also says:...