Comparing Three Poems ‘Half-Caste’ Essay

Each of these three poems talk about certain problems faced by specific groups of people in today’s society. The poems have been written specifically to illustrate to people who have been brought up with derogative ideas about different types of people, that there are people who are different, but are neither superior nor inferior to themselves.  The main themes that run common in all 3 poems are the ideas of individualism, respect, culture and equality. The poem ‘Half-Caste’ by John Agard talks about the stereo typed judgement about half-caste people in society today. John Agard’s main argument in the poem is that being a half-caste person does not make you half a human being. He talks about how people make ‘assumptions’ about half-caste people.  Ã¢â‚¬Å"†¦and when I’m introduced to yu I’m sure you’ll understand why I offer yu half-a-hand†¦Ã¢â‚¬  This quote suggests that non half-caste peoples attitudes towards half-caste people is that they are not human, and do not do everyday things the way they would do themselves. Agard exaggerates his ideas in order to make his argument a lot clearer.  Ã¢â‚¬Å"..an when moon begin to glow I half-caste human being cast half-a-shadow†¦Ã¢â‚¬  It is obvious that half-caste people do not caste shadows different to anyone else, but the emphasis on the ridiculousness of the mere idea of a different type of shadow makes the idea of half-caste people being ‘different’ just as ridiculous.  He explains quite cleverly how degrading the term half-caste can be by comparing half-caste people like himself to very worldly ideas that you would not title ‘half-caste’. â€Å"Yu mean when light an shadow mix in de sky is a half-caste weather†¦Ã¢â‚¬  His examples are all of things that people would associate with beauty, such as nature, art and music. His point being that if people call humans of two colours half-caste, then everything else with mixed colours must be aswel. People wouldn’t think twice about labeling a human half-caste, but when talking about nature or music and it would again be completely ridiculous to call Tchaikovsky’s composition a ‘half-caste symphony’. The poem itself also relays the message of individualism. It is written in phonetics to demonstrate his own personality with the language being English, but with his own Guyanan dialect. The readers are then forced to read the poem in a certain way, which enforces the message behind the poem.  Tom Leonard also uses this effective technique in his poem from ‘Unrelated Incidents’. This poem talks about status and social acceptance. Leonard talks about how people are reluctant to sit secure in the knowledge of a person with an accent, compared to someone who speaks with what is thought of ‘proper’, standard English in an English accent. He puts across the idea of how naà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ve and narrow-minded people can be. â€Å"†¦if a tokaboot thi trooth lik wanna yoo scruff yi widny thingk it wuz troo†¦Ã¢â‚¬ Ã‚  He suggests that people would believe anything from the mouth of a ‘proper’ speaking person, no matter how insane it may be and totally dismiss what a person with an accent like his, is saying. Even if it was the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so to speak. The way in which he has put this idea across is by using what is very commonly known to be quite English a typical example of where this sort of discrimination occurs. The news, where you will mainly hear the news read from a person who speaks with the ‘right’ accent. â€Å"This is thi six a clock news thi man said n thi reason a tok wia BBC accent iz coz yi widny wahnt mi ti talk aboot thi trooth wia voice lik wanna yoo scruff†¦Ã¢â‚¬  The poem is a parody of a typical British news broadcast, it is ironic the way in which Leonard has used his own dialect and spoken in the style of the commonly known news. It is obvious that Leonard is frustrated and angry at the fact that him and others alike would be looked down upon because of the way they talk. Similarly with John Agard we can see the resentment towards those people who treat half-caste people differently and Tom Leonard with the way society looks upon people with accents that differ from their own. However, Sujata Bhatt’s â€Å"Search For My Tongue† discusses society and culture from a different perspective. The problem she finds herself faced with is trying to make a correct balance with her own culture and heritage and the culture in which she lives in. She explains her fear of losing her ‘mother tongue’ and never being able to be totally accepted by the ‘foreign tongue’. Her concern with the mother tongue being lost is very explicit in the poem: â€Å"And if you lived in a place where toy had to speak a foreign tongue, you mother tongue would rot, rot and die in your mouth until you had to spit it out†¦Ã¢â‚¬  She explains how hard it is to keep your mother tongue healthy in a place where there is no use for it, and eventually it would become useless and you would eventually forget it about it. She talks not just about language but her whole culture and how she was brought up, what she was brought up to believe and live by and how society and different cultures sometimes make you forget. However she gets across to the reader that somehow, sub-consciously while she dreams, she dreams in her own language and reminds herself of her language and that she is still who she has always been and always will be.  Ã¢â‚¬Å"modhama pakay chay†¦ it blossoms out of my mouth.† The tongue is described to blossom out her mouth jus as she thinks she has forgotten it. This imagery of blossoming is beautiful and emphasises how important it is to be who you are because it is beautiful from whatever background and culture you belong to.