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ShanytownAnonymousAfrican Shanty TownsShanytown, by anonymous, focuses our attention on cultural diversity; cultures that are different to ours and how those cultures influence the composing of texts. This poem concerns the poverty associated with the poor in the slums and shanty towns of Jabavu, a poor ‘suburb’ of Soweto. The difference in culture between these suffering people and our own is enormous.In these African wastelands, people eke out an existence amid squalor and stench. Many have to work on steaming garbage tips among putrid fumes of burning plastic. Children, their faces grubby with soot and stained have tears of stinging smoke. The children, as young as four, hunt for the plastic so they can melt it and sell it back to the companies who dump it. The sell it back for 15 c a kilo. Unlike Australian culture, there is no Social Security for the peoples of Africa as we know it. Those who are covered receive next to nothing. Basic health care is out of reach for 60% of Africans living in poverty – and they are plagued by dysentery, malnutrition, malaria, typhoid and AIDS. Emphysema is high for the tip workers due to the poisonous smoke inhaled from burning plastic.The slums have filthy open sewers and an absence of toilets and sanitation. Wealth is in the hands of the few, notably corrupt politicians who even refuse to acknowledge that the slums exist! Shanty’s exist of mud, sticks and tin and are crammed together. Families cram into spaces no wider than a car parking space. Australians wouldn’t keep animals in such hovels, so it is unbelievable that these people pay rent! To Slumlords! These are gangs who victimise, bully and threaten the people if they don’t pay them money on a regular basis.The mortality rate in children is high because of disease and no adequate food, water and medicine. Education is out of the bounds for most of the population.ShantytownAnonymousHigh on the veld upon that plainAnd far from streets and lights and carsAnd bare of trees, and bare of grass,Jabavu sleeps beneath the stars.Jabavu sleeps.The children cough.Cold creeps up, the hard night cold,The earth is tight within its grasp.The high veld cold without soft rain,Dry as the sand, rough as a rasp,The frost-rimmed night invades the shacksThrough dusty groundThrough freezing ground the night cold creepsIn cotton blankets, rags and sacksBeneath the stars Jabavu sleeps.One day Jabavu will awakeTo greet a new and shining day:The sounds of coughing will becomeThe children’s laughter as they playIn parks with flowers where dust now swirlsIn strong-walled homes with warmth and light.But for tonight Jabavu sleeps,Jabavu sleeps. The stars are bright.Questions:What does the 1st Stanza tell the reader about the physical location of Jabavu?The line ‘far from streets…’ could be read as a reference to the larger and more civilised city, Johannesburg which was only 24km away. Besides distance, what else could ‘far from’ indicate between these places?What is the effect of the alliteration, ‘rough as rasp’ in describing the ground in the second stanza?Draw up the following table and fill it in with information from the poem. You should consider how personification contributes to the characterisation of the town and the temperature.JabavuColdExamples of personification relating to:What is the overall effect of the personification in describing each?Draw up the following table and fill it in with information from the poem. You should consider how contrast is used to highlight the world of the poet and there hope for the future:ContrastsStanza 2Stanza 3What are the children doing? What kind of emotions would they be experiencing?What sounds are present in the stanza?Describe the physical environment.Describe the built environment.What is the effect of the following lines:‘One day Jabavu will awake’, ‘The stars are bright’. Effect on reader?Effect on speaker?Extended AnswerWrite at least one paragraph in answering the following:What do you believe is the message of this poem?What is the significance of this poem being written by a person who lives in Jabavu? What does the poem reveal about life in Jabavu?Do you think this text operates as an insightful cultural artefact? ................
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