Nothing’s Changed

Tatamkhulu Afrika

Tatamkhulu Africa

• 1920 – 2002• Raised as a white

South African• Put in prison for

associating with black people

• Poem is about Apartheid.

Nothing’s Changed

Small round hard stones clickunder my heels,

seeding grasses thrustbearded seeds

into trouser cuffs, cans,trodden on, crunch

in tall, purple-flowering,amiable weeds.

Nothing’s Changed

Small round hard stones clickunder my heels,

seeding grasses thrustbearded seeds

into trouser cuffs, cans,trodden on, crunch

in tall, purple-flowering,amiable weeds.

Onomatopoeic wordsCreates harsh tone

Alliteration

Contradiction to show he prefers weeds to the

New trees (21)

District Six.

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.

District Six.

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.

Declared a white’s only Area in 1966 when ithad previously been

cosmopolitan

His body knows it

Repetition (structure) shows

anger

The hottest anger you have. Also linking with

his anger towards whitepeople

Brash with glass,

name flaring like a flag,

it squats

in the grass and weeds,

incipient Port Jackson trees:

new, up-market, haute cuisine,

guard at the gatepost,

whites only inn.

Brash with glass,

name flaring like a flag,

it squats

in the grass and weeds,

incipient Port Jackson trees:

new, up-market, haute cuisine,

guard at the gatepost,

whites only inn.

This is a barrier to keephim out

Simile shows how the place is showing off

to black people.

Negative words

To stop undesirables

This contrasts withwhat the blacks

can have

Compressed grammarand no unnecessary

connectives

No sign says it is:

but we know where we belong

No sign says it is:

but we know where we belong

There’s no official separation

of black and white people any

more but the feeling of unfairness

lives on.

Predominately monosyllabicwords are used throughoutthe poem, sounding like aheartbeat underneath the

surface

I press my nose

to the clear panes, know,

before I see them, there will be

crushed ice white glass,

linen falls,

the single rose.

I press my nose

to the clear panes, know,

before I see them, there will be

crushed ice white glass,

linen falls,

the single rose.

He’s an outsider

Obsessed with colour

Represents the splendour

Embodies the injusticeof arrogant wealth

amongst mass poverty

Down the road,

working man’s café sells

bunny chows.

Take it with you, eat

it at a plastic table’s top,

wipe your fingers on your jeans,

spit a little on the floor

it’s in the bone.

Down the road,

working man’s café sells

bunny chows.

Take it with you, eat

it at a plastic table’s top,

wipe your fingers on your jeans,

spit a little on the floor

it’s in the bone.

The places where theycan eat are separated

In contrast to the white’s restaurant

Could mean that black people have lived likethis for so long that it

now seems natural Used ironically

I back from the glass,

boy again,

leaving small mean O

of small, mean mouth.

Hands burn

for a stone, a bomb,

to shiver down the glass.

Nothing’s changed.

I back from the glass,

boy again,

leaving small mean O

of small, mean mouth.

Hands burn

for a stone, a bomb,

to shiver down the glass.

Nothing’s changed.

Term, often insultingfor a black male of any

age

Mark left by his mouthShows that the manfeels rejected

He’s angry and wants to take

actioni.e. to remove thebarrier betweenblack and white

Ends on a negativeNote. Post

apartheid-Africa is the same

LinksFirst Person Point of view:• Limbo

• Night of the Scorpion

• Search for my Tongue

• Presents from my Aunts…

• Hurricane Hits England

Sense of Place:• Island Man

• Blessing

• Two Scavengers…

• Night of the Scorpion

• Vultures

• What were they like?

• Hurricane Hits England

Political/ social comment:• Two Scavengers…

• Vultures

• What Were They Like?

Rich and Poor:• Blessing

• Two Scavengers…