Consumer's Report

Question 1

Themes

Answer 1

-disappointment + rewards of life
-consumerism & unsatisfaction

Question 2

What the poem is about…

Answer 2

Speaker is offering their assesment on a survey of a ‘product’ (life)

Question 3

1-3 (1)
The name of the poduct I tested is Life,
I have completed the form you sent me
and understand that my answers are confidential.

Answer 3

Introduces extended metaphor : comparing life to consumer product

Question 4

6-8 (2)
I had it as a gift,
I didn’t feel much while using it,
in fact I think I’d like to have been more excited.

Answer 4

gift= life is a gift –> something to be appreciated & cherished
(or life was given to him w/out choice, gift suggests element of surprise + unknown as much as life is, gift ultimately disappointing to the speaker)
but speaker…
didn’t feel much –> speaker seems to be depressed / feels numb to life’s pleasures

Question 5

(3) 7-9
It seemed gentle on the hands
but left an embarrassing deposit behind.
It was not economical

Answer 5

1st & 2nd line metaphor: life might have been seemed ‘gentle’ pleasant in youth, but left a ‘deposit’ of ‘embarassing’ memories as speaker aged

3rd line: life wasn’t rewarding enough for all the time spent on it

Negative product review : speakee may be having minor mid-life crisis

Question 6

(3) 10-12
and I have used much more than I thought
(I suppose I have about half left
but it’s difficult to tell) –

Answer 6

-Speaker reached middle age & started wondering where the time went
-hasn’t experienced as much as he hoped
-difficult to tell - bc life could end anytime

Question 7

13-16 (2)
although the instructions are fairly large
there are so many of them
I don’t know which to follow, especially
as they seem to contradict each other.

Answer 7

Metaphor: hard to find trustworthy advice
Instruction manual = teachers/parents/society

Question 8

17-18 (3)
I’m not sure such a thing
should be put in the way of children –

Answer 8

-Children shouldn’t be exposed to something so complicated/dangerous
–>IRONIC: all children have already encountered life
-Is it fair to bring new life to a world full of pain?

Question 9

19-21
It’s difficult to think of a purpose
Also the price is much too high.
Things are piling up so fast,

Answer 9

1st line: life is a product w/ no obvious benefits + many drawbacks
2nd line: metaphor= price of life is suffering & death (u can’t live w/out experiencing both)
Life isn’t worth that much

Question 10

(2)22-24
after all, the world got by
for a thousand million years
without this, do we need it now?

Answer 10

World lived w/out life a billion years ago
Here poem mocks consumer society (bc they treat everything as optional & disposable, even life)

Question 11

24-26
(Incidentally, please ask your man
to stop calling me ‘the respondent’,
I don’t like the sound of it.)

Answer 11

Speaker feels dehumanised by anonymous survey
–> maybe they want more from life than to be a nameless data point

Question 12

27-31(3)
seems to be a lot of different labels,
sizes and colours should be uniform
the shape is awkward, it’s waterproof
but not heat resistant, it doesn’t keep
yet it’s very difficult to get rid of:

Answer 12

Writing about size, colour, heat resistant, waterproof (things of a normal report)
List of objections: life as a product is a mess
1&2nd line: differences of body cause major complications (discrimination)
last line: life ends for everyone eventually, but it’s extremely hard to end one’s life on purpose

Question 13

32-34 (2+2)
whenever they make it cheaper they seem
to put less in– if you say you don’t
want it, then it’s delivered anyway.

Answer 13

1+2nd line= crticism of unequal societies
The powerless/poorer live in troubled regions + shorter life spans & get less out of their lives
–>like an inexpensive product

2+3rd line= even if people get tired of life, they keep living (no control of the process)
–> for the bored, life is a product subscription that’s nearly impossible to cancel

Question 14

35-41 (2)
I’d agree it’s a popular product,
it’s got into the language; people
even say they’re on the side of it.
Personally I think its overdone,
a small thing people are ready
to behave badly about. I think
we should take it for granted.

Answer 14

Ironic –> speaker treats life as overrated
Poem mocks consumeriam culture:
leaves people to be unsatisfied w/ everything (even life)

Question 15

41-45 (3)
[ ]If it’s
experts are called philosophers or
market researchers or historians, we shouldn’t
care. We are the consumers and the last
law makers.

Answer 15

Life shoeld be lived (tested out like a product) rather than just studied from an intellectual distance (philosophers / historians)

Last line: in a consumer society, consumers make the rules
(It is everyday poeple, expressing their preferences in society , that determine what life in their society is like)

Poem again makes fun of consumer society, (it isn’t the smart ones who decide how society works)

Question 16

End (2+2)
[ ]So finally, I’d buy it.
But the question of a ‘best buy’
I’d like to leave until I get
the competitive product you said you’d send.

Answer 16

Criticism of consumer culture:
-Leads people to be unsatisfied w/ every possible satisfaction life has to offer
-the consumer won’t even award a ‘best buy’ to life (which contains all of the best things) due to the fantasy that there might still be something better out there

Competitive product = death/afterlife (life and death are comoeting brands like coke & pepsi)

Question 17

Structure

Answer 17

2 stanzas : one short / one long
Long: emphasizes he has many complaints

Question 18

What is the criticism of consumer sofiety? (2)

Answer 18

-distracts them from appreciating the life they already have
-leaves people bored +dissatisfied and craving for more (even when it’s not possible)