Two Scavengers In A Truck Analysis

“Two Scavengers in a Truck, Two Beautiful People in a Mercedes” was written by Lawrence Ferlinghetti. This poem is about two scavengers on its way home and seeing two rich people in a Mercedes, who was just about to go to work. The writer show social Inequality by imagery, similes and irony. The whole poem was very descriptive, the images are show clearly which makes the readers easy to picture the differences between the rich and poor. In line three and four it describe the scavengers as “A bright garbage truck,” “with two garbage man in red plastic blazers” which makes a contrast with line eight and eleven. “An elegant open Mercedes” “hip three-piece linen suit.” Over here, it tell us that the scavenger’s clothes are rustic and it is unfashionable. The two scavenger driving in an old smelly garbage truck which makes them look gross. In the other hand, the two rich couples were cool and fashion, they have nice blond hair and they were driving in a fancy car. The writer show social inequality by having detail descriptions on both rich and poor and use it in a contrast to make it stand out more.
In line 29, “As if they were watching some odorless TV ad” The write show social inequality by ‘odorless TV ad’ TV ad normally portray some idealized version of the world. When these scavenger looked down at the rich couple in the Mercedes, they think that the rich couples are too perfect as if they were actors in the TV ad. This suggested that for the scavengers, these rich people’s life seems so unreal to them, it seems as if it is an unreachable goal for them. The writer plays around with the language and uses diction and similes to show that the differences between the two pairs in the social