A Consumers Report

Question 1

Summarise the poem

Answer 1

Speaker compares life to a mere commodity through an extended metaphor and explores ideas of consumerism and materialism.

Question 2

Explain the use of a parody in the poem

Answer 2

Parody- An imitation of a style or work in order to ridicule it
The poem is a parody of a response to a marketing survey. This creates a cynical diatribe.

Question 3

Why might have Porter written the poem?

Answer 3

To criticise how we have been conditioned to covet and buy materialistic things with the unrealistic expectation that they give us happiness.

Question 4

How does Porter strikingly convey the disappointments of life?

Answer 4

-By condemning the fact that it is a normal part of human nature to desire life to be somewhat different or better
-“I didn’t feel much while using it, in fact I’d have liked to be more excited” suggests that it left the speaker feeling numb and cold
-Implies that life is boring and disappointing and that peoples expectations are too high.
“although the instructions are fairly large… they seem to contradict each other” shows that life is confusing
-Perhaps it’s alluding to the opposition between religious ideas verses scientific ideas of understanding our existence.
-This reflects the anxiety that people face of which instructions are right or wrong.
Porter may have done all of this to tech people that we need to make a paradigm shift with different expectations so we don’t live a life which perpetual disappointment and dissatisfaction.