Summary Of Nothing's Changed By Tatamkhulu Afrika

The poem “Nothing’s Changed” by Tatamkhulu Afrika uses different poetic devices and styles of writing to help the readers feel and understand the character’s emotion in the poem. The author, gradually strengthens the mood at the end revealing all his anger towards the frustration of apartheid, a society of discrimination. However, he realizes that the DNA of his race is in the bone and flesh he was born. The poem is in a narrative showing the sequence and order the character is going throughout the story. As he walks across the streets of District Six, he is looking at the various kinds of lifestyle the white people are living in. He can do nothing but be mocked and be treated inhumane. He is angry. However, he can do nothing to change this

The contrast used in the settings shows the differences in lifestyle between the whites and the main character who “wipe your fingers on your jeans” and spitting on the floor. This shows the tradition of the blacks and the contrast of the whites who are guarded with “guards at the gatepost”. Continuously, there is another contrast that with the setting in District Six. The condition of the ghettos and the “inns” relate to the background of the main character’s anger and home. The ghettos are filled with the cry of protests with the “small round hard stones clicking” while he steps into the “trouser cuffs” and “cans”. The “amiable weeds” signify the peacefulness and friendliness the character 's mood is in the beginning. However, as the poet narrates and time flows, as soon as he sees “District Six” he knows that it’s his home. The home filled with the protest of his people under apartheid and the greedy whites enjoying their time of leisure and pax. The main character realizes his role in the society where the whites control all of the wealth and squatting in the land where “grass and weeds” and “Port Jackson trees” emerge. Instead all the land was replaced with “new, up-market, haute cuisine” as he sticks his “nose” to the “panes” where he “knows” “its in the bone”. “No sign says it is; but we know where we belong” suggest the final theme of the poem. Although his skin,

“Small mean O- of small mean mouth” shows the use of repetition of “small mean”. These elements of poetic devices gives a clear setting of District Six. In a place of segregation , the character who has inherited black in his bone, flesh , and all throughout his body gives anger in his heart. As he walks through the “clear panels” sticking his nose watching the white in their inns, markets, and restaurants, he emotionally feels pain. The “linen” and the “crushed ice white glass” shows the disapproval towards blacks. The mood shifts to a sudden pause where all resentment and hatred is in a “stone”. It is the “bomb” with the use of hyperbole that will shatter the distinction of