Scavengers and Nothing’s Changed. Two very different poems, written by :: English Literature

Scavengers and Nothing’s Changed. Two very different poems, written by two very different poets, both of whom write with regards to their own cultures, backgrounds and places of origin SCAVENGERS and NOTHING’S CHANGED Scavengers and Nothing’s Changed. Two very different poems, written by two very different poets, both of whom write with regards to their own cultures, backgrounds and places of origin – all of which are very different. What could these two poems have in common. Ostensibly, nothing. Scavengers is simply about the social divide between the upper and working classes, whilst Nothing’s Changed tells of a young man’s anger at being discriminated because of his colour. But after even the most shallow disection it is easy to see the connection between these two poems. Nothing’s Changed’s angry young man is obviously a victim of other peoples racial prejudice, but the two bin men of Scavengers are also victims of prejudice, looked down upon by the middle and upper classes because of their job, their financial situation, their parents. There’s your first shared theme. Then you got the second: hypocrisy. The hypocrisy theme runs strong in both poems. In Nothing’s Changed it’s that this poem takes place after a law had been passed against racial discrimination. Laws change. Attitudes don’t. There may not be a sign on the door denying the young boy entry, for it is an unwritten law that he is rebelling against. He is rebelling against the attitudes of the people inside the resturant. With Scavengers it is the entire American Dream that is called into question and shown up to be what it is: a lie. The American Dream is that anyone, no matter the class, creed or connections, can do anything, be anything. A person born into poverty and raised on the streets can rise to be president. All it takes is hard work, and you can be whoever you want to be. Which is, of course, a lie. The current president of the United States is a straight C student. In this country, he might have scraped into Sixth Form by the skin of his teeth. He might have got to be a office desk jockey for a paper merchant. But in the US, he’s the son of a former president, argo – he’s president. Of course, blood has nothing to do with it *please read with dripping sarcasm in mind*. The poem is quite clear in it’s message: The American Dream Is a Lie! Great Hemocracy? Great Hipocrisy. There’s another thing that connects the two poems. It’s the idea that many people in these unfortunate positions often hinder any sort of