The Poem

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The title or Storyline

The title is important. A person who is deported is someone who reaches somewhere & is sent back too home. You can be deported for many reasons. A person who is deported has in some way created a problem for the nation he is in. The title bring to mind the understanding that the content will be an elaboration of social ills. We understand that the poem also capitalizes upon a Caribbean people's pre-occupation with the glamour of all things American. We are told later on that the person is deported from the U.S. The poem incorporates numerous levels of contrast and symbolic iconography (something recognized, things much larger) & also contains a level of contrast.

Analysis

In the 1st word 'barefooted' & the last word 'boots', the word barefooted establishes a level of poverty experienced by the youth of the deportee's homeland. The fact that his attire is a new & also branded tells us that the deportee was very conscience about maintaining social appearance that would correspond to his adopted gangster lifestyle. Our port, spends time identifying for us very popular & expensive brands, snoop dog t-shirt, phatt pants, timberland, kangol hat & Rolex watch. While this may be stereotypical, the brand/article are associated with 'American Gang' culture. Clearly, just by the listing of brands, the reader is given an understanding of what the deportee was engaged in. He was a criminal, a a bandit "line 29 - robbed".

A the poem goes on, J- & Tapuk are rappers who have a particular following / fanbase & this is, are 'black' American (gangster), the music also tend to sensationalize / glorify a criminal lifestyle. Again...we see what his take in music reveal about his character, their would have also been an appreciation of criminal ideology of life. We also see that his clothing, knowledge of American culture. By referring to these icons, the deportee has captured the mind of the youth. The deportee is an icon to the poor youth.

The 1st stanza show the deportee when he was alive, the 2nd stanza, we enter a grotesque (gory, ugly, detestable) contrast about this reality. He is dead and in a drain. His brands are filthy & in mud from the drain. His clothing is filthy. Contrast from lines 7-22. When he was alive he was self-conscious & now his dreadlocks are tangled. His appearance has become morbid (causes revulsion) ], dead but also decomposing, stinking. In line 24 we get another grotesque situation. A snail feeds on him. His body fluids escape his body. The odor from him causes people to cover their mouth & nostrils. Carrion (dead flesh). Carrion is a pun as it means dead flesh but also carry on.

The last line shows that the poor people are looking at the deportee, they still glorify the lifestyle. It brings us a pessimistic social observation that the culture of violence & criminality may still remain attractive to the youth. This attractiveness of the lifestyle may be more potent of the end result of that lifestyle. that is the fear of such a morbid death is outweighed greatly by the desire / attraction of a glamourous criminal lifestyle. The youth will still perpetuate this negative way of thinking.

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