Protest Against Injustice in the Poems Not my Business and Half Caste

Protest Against Injustice in the Poems Not my Business and Half Caste

In the poem ‘Not My Business’ the poet is not so much commenting on

injustice, he is waiting for it to happen to him. The poem starts off

with violent verbs such as “beat”, “stuffed”. This shows us already

that the message of the poem has something to do with violence and

injustice. The title ‘Not My Business’ is ironic as in the end all

that has gone on that “isn’t his business” eventually happens to him

and so becomes his business. This is known as a circular poem. It

also has a sarcastic tone about how it is ‘not my business’ when

really it is.

In ‘Half Caste’ the poet is mocking the use of the word half caste as

a derisive term. The first stanza is sarcastic and the message of the

poem is how the short sightedness of which people view people of a

mixed race is wrong and how they need to view ‘wid de whole of ya eye’

and not just half. It is trying to put across the message that

because someone is half caste, do not think of them as half the person

you are. The poet is suggesting that people who look at mixed race

people as if they are second in society are the ones who are really

‘half caste’.

The use of Standard English in ‘Not My Business’ shows that the poet

wants the world to hear about the injustice in his homeland, Nigeria.

However, he does use words such as ‘yam’ which indicates his culture.

He uses imagery and violent verbs to convey the overall message like

‘stuffed him down the belly of a waiting Jeep’. This personifies the

Jeep and the effect created makes it seem more violent. When the poet

puts in names like ‘Danladi’ it once again reflects his culture and

makes the poem seem realistic which is good to get his message across.

The poet uses Non Standard English to reinforce his re-identity.