Half caste Flashcards
background on writer
person from Guyana- south America
his parents were Carribean and Portuguese
1977 wrtiten, racial changes have been made since then
poem is
didactic poem- aims to teach a moral. aka prejudice is wrong
a celebration of his combined ethnicity
structure of poem
written in free verse, with random rhymes, short lines to make his point.
very little punctuation, capital letters and no question marks.
this refusal to obey normal english grammar structure, shows his defiance against the system and his belief that all ethnicities should be appreciated, and to emphasise the fact that he does not have to speak in a way which others prefer.
the way the poem is written
he often writes phonetically, reflecting his Afro-Carribean accent to show that other cultures exist and should be appreciated. He also uses creole words such as ‘ah rass’ to highlight that he is not simply one race and that he is defying society.
varied spelling of you
provides the spellings ‘yu’ and ‘you’ shows that he is a mixture of ethnicities and understands the ‘correct’ way to speak yet shows he sometimes aims to appreciate his differences.
repetition of ‘explain yuself what yu mean’
shows his anger and hatred of racists
emphasis that there is no valid response or argument for the prejudice.
he shows, through strong language, that he has as much power and rights as anyone else.
‘you must come back tomrorow’
more imperative lang
shows his determination to make a change
inspiring others to do the same
demanding that people must have an open mind
standing on one leg I’m half caste
making light of the ridiculous situation and making fun of others who say such things and imply that he is ‘half a person’ hihglithts the idiocy of racism
‘mix a black key wid a white key…’
metaphor which hilights the idiocy of racism- implying that by racists views, a song using both coloured notes is bad.
the references to music and art are ironic as hey are symbols of supposed western ‘civilisation’ and yet how society is not showing its humanity in judging and labelling non whites.
end
juxtaposes the ideas of half and whole to hilt the ludicrus nature of this concept.
