Compare and contrast the injustice shown I the poems “Nothings Changed” and “Not My business” look at content, language, structure and themes. A theme of injustice in nothings changed was apartheid. A definition of apartheid is; “Apartheid is a system of racial segregation that was enforced in South Africa from 1948 to 1994” (wikipeidia). When apartheid was on blacks and whites were completely separated, they couldn’t use any of the same public facilities, in one case a world war II veteran called Isaac Woodward had his eyes gouged out for using a white only restroom.
The poem was one of many statements against apartheid, a song “something inside so strong” by Ladi Siffe. The author of “nothings changed” was Tatamkhulu Afrika (grandfather Afrika), this however was not his real name it was one given to him by the African National Congress, which were basically a terrorist group; Nelson Mandela was also part of this group. He was born in Egypt and moved to south Afrika as a very young child. He was a very strong willed man because he could have been classified as white and had many more luxuries; however he became Muslim and wasn’t classified as white.
The poem is about how, even though apartheid had ended, there was still segregation between blacks and whites, and how he wants to break the barrier between blacks and whites. The poem is biographical; it is almost like he has experienced it himself. The poem is across six stanzas, the six stanzas could represent district six which the poem is set in. In the first stanza he walks into district six, “small round hard stones click under my heels,” the word click is a form of onomatopoeia; the speaker is trying to paint a picture with words.
As is walking through he is describing how run down it is, “seeding grasses thrust bearded seeds into trouser cuffs” it used personification here, as grass can not thrust seeds, and they can not have beards; this is suggesting that they are old. He also uses assonance, the repetition of vowels as in “seeding” and “heels”. “in the tall purple flowering amiable weeds” the word amiable, another use of personification, meaning that it is friendly, this could symbolise that the only friendly thing left after it was bulldozed was weeds.
In stanza two he is describing his feelings towards district six and how nothing says it but the country is still racist, “no board says it: but my feet know” he uses personification here to show that he doesn’t have to think about it, it is an instinct. He also implies that he has to struggle just to be their, “the soft labouring of my lungs” this means that he could be nervous and is find is it hard to breathe. There is a large focus the speakers senses in this stanza, this implies that he knows that apartheid still exists even though there is no visible evidence.
