Analysis Of Voice Of The Cracker

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One of the Don West poems that I really enjoyed was “Voice of the Cracker”. This poem started off heavy with labor of removing the mountains and coal mine marked by his father. The poem does not stop there though, as the songs do, the poem continued to explain how the government frame his as a lyncher and a member of the KKK but the cracker goes on to explain he is not the created image. The cracker is a man gaining an education and looking forward to the future of unity.The end of the poem is filled with hope. “Oh. I’m the Cracker, And I’m learning-- Of unity, Not hate, To look And talk straight” (145). The message found in this song is contrasted with the song “They’ll Never Keep Us Down”. In this song the woman is looking for a fight and she is looking to get revenge for the blood poured into the dirt to rip the coal out of the ground. …show more content…

She rather is out for revenge, not unity or to stop any hate. “We won't be bought, we won't be sold To be treated right, well that's our goal There ain't no way they can ever keep us down” ( “They’ll Never Keep Us Down”). The poem “Toil and Hunger” is a poem that shows more anger than that of “Voice of the Cracker”. “Toil and Hunger” is a girl explaining how her father was a miner and was born hungry and died hungry not able to ever gain enough for a full belly (121). All his hard work never lead to him having the reward of plentiful food. This poem reminds me of my favorite song from this week, “I Hate The Company Bosses”. This song held the most weight for me since she talked not only of fighting or dying, but explained the whole situation of her life. She talked about how her baby died of starvation and how hard working her husband was without

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