Two Scavengers in a Truck, Two Beautiful People in a Mercedes

 

1. Complete the table to bring out the contrast in the culture of the two sets of people.  

	Two scavengers in a truck	two beautiful people in a Mercedes
vehicle	garbage truck	Mercedes
dress	red plastic blazers	man: hip, three-piece linen suit and sunglasses woman: short skirt and coloured stockings
hairstyle	old man: grey iron hair young man: long hair	man: shoulder-length blond hair woman: blond hair
routines	they wake up 4am and return home at 9am	they go to their architect’s office at 9am

 

2.Answer the following questions.  

a. What is the setting of the poem?

The poem is set at a traffic light in downtown San Francisco.  

b. The word ‘elegant’ has been used twice to describe the rich couple (lines 8 and 9). What do you think it suggests?

The word ‘elegant’ suggests luxury, wealth, class, and status.

c. How is the first garbage man described? What is the feeling that he evokes?

The older of the two has grey iron hair and a hunched back. He looks like a gargoyle Quasimodo. We feel pity and sympathy.

d. In a paragraph, discuss the importance of colour in this poem.

Colours make the poem more visual. The poet used phrases like red traffic light, bright yellow garbage truck, red plastic blazers, blond hair, coloured stockings, and grey iron hair. The colours highlight the difference between the two classes of people.

e. Comment on the phrase ‘small gulf’ in the last stanza.

The phrase ‘small gulf’ shows the difference in the social status of the two sets of people. Even though they are near to each other, their worlds never meet.

f. The garbage men are ‘looking down’ into the Mercedes. At face value, this is clearly because the garbage truck is higher than the car, but there is an ironic message as well. Bring out the irony in the phrase.

The men ‘look down’ at the people in Mercedes because they feel that they work harder than them and lead more difficult lives. The ironic message is that the people who are looking down are the people in the lower position in society. The irony is that despite their higher physical position, socially the garbage men are in a lower position.

g. Is the poet successful in bringing out the class divide in the society? Do you think it is possible to bridge the gap? Give reasons.

Yes. The poet is successful in bringing out the class divide in society. Yes. It is possible to bridge the gap. We have to give opportunities and resources to the less privileged people. Rich people should help poor people. Then the gap may be bridged.

h. The older garbage man has a hunched back and looks ‘like some gargoyle Quasimodo’. Explain the comparison.

A gargoyle is a large and ugly figure of a person. It is kept on the roofs of buildings to scare off evil spirits and to drain rainwater from the roofs. Quasimodo is a character in Victor Hugo’s novel ‘The Hunchback of Norte Dame’. He is ugly but he is loving and caring. The comparison shows that the older scavenger is kind and caring in spite of his ugly looks.

 3. Give examples of each of these literary devices used in the poem. Also, explain the meaning.  

Literary Device	Example	Meaning
a. simile	like some gargoyle Quasimodo	looking ugly but kind
b. metaphor	scavengers	scavengers are people who search through waste material for valuable or useful things; here they are looking at the rich couple
c. personification	red light which stopped and held all the four people together	the red light is like a mother holding all of her children without any partiality
d. alliteration	causally coifed	her hairstyle looks simple but has been done with great care
e. repetition	an elegant open Mercedes with an elegant couple in it	the word ‘elegant’ highlights wealth, luxury, and privilege