An abandoned bundle power point help.pptx

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1. AN ABANDONED BUNDLE MBUYISENI OSWALD MTSHALI

2. BACKGROUND INFORMATION: POET (Do not write) Mtshali was born on 17 January 1940 in Vryheid, South Africa. He has written in both Zulu and English. Mtshali’s poetry reflects his harsh experiences under the apartheid regime. He observes bitterly the crowded trains, the slum housing, and the harsh working conditions that make up the lives of black Africans in South Africa.

3. BACKGROUND INFORMATION: LOCATION (Do not write) Soweto came to the world's attention on June 16, 1976 with the Soweto Riots, when protests erupted over the government's policy to enforce education in Afrikaans. Police opened fire in Orlando West on 10,000 students marching from Naledi High School to Orlando Stadium, and in the events that unfolded, 566 people died. White City Jabavu is a suburb of SOWETO in Johannesburg. It was created in 1948 and named after Davidson Don Tengo Jabavu (1885-1959). He was an educator and author.

4. SOWETO : South Western Township

5. SIGNS OF THE TIMES

6. TYPICAL TOWNSHIP SCENARIO

7. HOUSES IN SOWETO

8. An Abandoned bundle (Please copy poem in workbook) The morning mist and chimney smoke of White City Jabavu flowed thick yellow as pus oozing from a gigantic sore.   It smothered our little houses like fish caught in a net.   Scavenging dogs draped in red bandanas of blood fought fiercely for a squirming bundle.   I threw a brick; they bared fangs flicked velvet tongues of scarlet and scurried away; leaving a mutilated corpse - an infant dumped on a rubbish heap ­   'Oh! Baby in the Manger sleep well on human dung.'   Its mother had melted into the rays of the rising sun, her face glittering with innocence her heart as pure as untrampled dew.

9. Questions (No need to write questions, they are in your textbook) In a few sentences explain the content of the poem. Why do you think that this poem has been included in this theme of choices? Comment on the title of the poem. Name and quote two figures of speech from the poem. Explain the effectiveness of the imagery they create. Comment on how the speaker portrays the mother in the final stanza. What is the theme or message in the poem? Compare the mood of stanza one compared to the mood of the final stanza.

10. Language Can you find one example of a coordinating conjunction? Write the content of lines 13-17 in direct speech Rewrite what you have written in reported speech. What type of sentence is each of the following? Give a reason for your answer Its mother had melted into the rays of the rising sun. I threw a brick, they bared fangs, flicked velvet tongues of scarlet and scurried away, leaving a mutilated corpse.

11. BRIEF OVERVIEW OF THE POEM: (Do not copy) The poet describes the horrific conditions of living in White City Jabavu. Almost as a metaphor of what life is like there, he sees a group of dogs ripping apart the body of a baby who had been abandoned by its mother. In the meantime, the baby’s mother continues with her life with no regrets or sadness…

12. STANZA 1: LINES 1 -6 (Copy the following notes next to your poem marked: *)   The morning mist and chimney smoke of White City Jabavu flowed thick yellow as pus oozing from a gigantic sore. GRAPHIC IMAGERY: METAPHOR Smoke = thick, yellow pus. Graphic Imagery: Simile The suburb is compared to a sore on a diseased person’s body. The sore is infected and oozing pus – as the neighbourhood oozes smoke. The ‘body’ can be either Soweto or South Africa and the ‘sore’ is Jabavu. The purpose of the image is to create the image of Jabavu being run-down, there is rubbish lying everywhere and everything is polluted and unsanitary. * The neighbourhood is polluted. Also could be a metaphor for the people living there – their lives are also ‘infected’ by the realities of apartheid.

13. STANZA 2: LINES 7 – 8 * It smothered our little houses like fish caught in a net. The image used here is PERSONIFICATION. IT = the smog. Given the human quality of consciously smothering another living being. SIMILE: Emphasising the number of houses squashed together like many fish in a net. Also, the idea of smothering links to the oppression these people were under and the fact they were trapped (caught in a net).

14. STANZA 3: LINES 9 – 12 * Scavenging dogs draped in red bandanas of blood fought fiercely for a squirming bundle. Scavenging: indicates a situation of hunger, homelessness and extreme poverty Also could serve as a metaphor of the savage lives the people are living in Jabavu. The dogs have been tearing the baby apart and their heads covered with its blood – they are ‘wearing’ the baby’s blood. Bandanas – large coloured handkerchief. ALLITERATION ‘f’ sound creates the impression of fierceness, determination and resolution . Indicates that the baby IS STILL ALIVE .

15. STANZA 4: LINES 13 – 18 * I threw a brick; they bared fangs flicked velvet tongues of scarlet and scurried away, leaving a mutilated corpse - an infant dumped on a rubbish heap- FANGS: Indicates savagery and horror – emphasising the repulsive behaviour of the dogs. The dogs are extremely aggressive. METAPHOR: The dogs tongues are compared to velvet - a very rich, smooth material… direct contrast with the horror of the situation. Scarlet = (red) their tongues are stained with blood . MUTILATED: The baby’s body has been virtually torn apart and is now certainly d ead (CORPSE) Parenthesis: indicates an afterthought. The baby is meaningless in the greater struggle for life

16. STANZA 4: LINES 19 – 21 * ‘Oh! Baby in the Manger sleep well on human dung.’ A reference to the baby Jesus, who was also born in a manger. However, this baby’s manger is a rubbish heap consisting of human excrement. The dump serves to emphasise the horrific physical and emotional conditions the people live under and the fact that SA was no place for the innocent. This link to Christianity could be an ironic comment: the Apartheid government was extremely firm in their religious beliefs – how then could they allow such terrible things to occur in their country?

17. STANZA 5: LINES 22 – 25 * Its mother had melted into the rays of the rising sun , her face glittering with innocence her heart as pure as untrampled dew . This baby is so ‘insignificant’ that we do not even know its gender . Disappeared without a trace The sun’s light is normally associated with truth/ openness/ joy. Unexpected in this situation. This woman carries on as normal – her life will not change.

18. THE PARADOX IN STANZA 5 * This situation is so horrendous and most people will feel shock and disgust after such an occurrence – yet the mother’s reaction is unexpected… HER BABY has just been TORN APART by dogs because SHE LEFT HER CHILD on a RUBBISH HEAP to face the elements alone…. BUT she feels no shame or guilt at what she has done. She does not want the child and having abandoned it – she proceeds into the sunlight with a clear conscience – her life will be unaffected.

19. PARADOXICAL REACTION: * HORRIFIC EVENT INVOLVING THE DOGS ATTACKING A BABY A CALM, RELAXED AND ‘INNOCENT’ MOTHER

20. Scavenging dogs fought fiercely for a squirming bundle…

21. Answers 1. The poet describes White City Jabavu as a vile place. The poet comes across a baby on a rubbish heap being savaged by dogs. The poet chases them away, but it is too late. The baby is dead. 2. the theme is about choices and the young mother may have felt she did to have any choice but to abandon the baby 3. The word bundle suggests clothes or other items. The title is effective as it reflects how the baby has been reduced to nothing more than an inanimate object left behind on a rubbish heap.

22. 4. There are many. ‘The morning mist/ and chimney smoke/ of a White city jabavu / flowed thick yellow as pus oozing/ from a gigantic sore’ = Simile. ‘It smothered our little houses/ like fish caught in a net’ = simile ‘draped in red bandanas of blood’ = metaphor 5. The poet portrays the mother imagining that she will be fresh and new, and have a new future when she walks away from her child on the rubbish dump. 6. The poet suggests that the death of the new baby is a social ill. The baby is a bundle abandoned by its mother in the poem. The mother may also be an abandoned-she may have behaved in a way that she did not have a choice in the situation in which she found herself. 7. Stanza 1 has a sombre, almost malevolent mood, while the mood in the final stanza seams positive and up beat.

23. Language: 1. ‘and’ 2. The speaker said, ‘I threw a brick, they bared fangs, flicked velvet tongues of scarlet and scurried away, leaving a mutilated corpse. 3. The speaker said that he threw a brick, the dogs bared their fangs, flicked velvet tongues of scarlet and scurried away, leaving a mutilated corpse. 4. a) Simple sentences: It has one finite verb and therefore one clause. b) Compound sentence: It has five finite verbs and one coordinating conjunctions.