Comparing Nothings Changed and Charlotte ONeils Song :: Farrel Afrika Poetry Poems Culture Essays

Comparing Nothing's Changed and Charlotte O'Neil's Song Both poets are protesting about the injustices and inequalities of their own respective cultures. In "Nothing's Changed" Afrika protests about the differences in the way that black and white people are treated in South Africa. The poem illustrates how, although the South African apartheid system was abolished in the early 1990s nothing had really changed beyond paperwork. Afrika was once quoted in an interview as saying "We may have a new constitution, we may have on the face of it all a beautiful democracy, but the racism in this country is widespread. We try to pretend to the world that it does not exist but it most certainly does, all day long, every day, shocking and saddening and terrible." He reinforces these feelings in his poem. He begins the poem in a calm mood. He describes his walk down the path towards district six in a calm, almost leisurely way. When he reaches district six the sense of calm leaves and the anger in the poem starts to become apparent. He talks about how there is no sign to show the name of the area but he can feel it. "No board says it is: But my feet know, And my hands, And the skin about my bones, And the soft labouring of my lungs, And the hot, white, inwards turning Anger of my eyes." It would seem that he does not have good memories of this place. His immediate change of mood as he nears district six seems to show his feelings towards the area. We start to get the feeling that whatever has happened here has affected him deeply and personally. Afrika is outraged by the hidden racism in his country. Even though by law black, white and coloured people are considered equal in practise quite the reverse is true. In the poem he describes a white's only inn. He uses quite harsh language in his description. "Brash with glass, Name flaring like a flag, It squats, In the grass and the weeds Incipient Port Jackson trees: New, up-market, haute cuisine, Guard at the gate post, Whites only inn" There is a lot of personification in this description. The word brash suggests the arrogance of the place. The name flaring like a flag is suggestive of the inn displaying its conquest of the area. Simply by being there Afrika feels that the inn has committed a great atrocity as it is a place where a coloured man would obviously not be welcome even in the absence of apartheid. The word squats I think is not as though it were sitting but as though it were occupying the land illegally. Incipient literally means imported.