Two Scavengers in a Truck, Two Beautiful People in a Mercedes

"Two Scavengers in a Truck, Two Beautiful People in a Mercedes" is a poem by American poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti.[1] Up until 2010, the poem was studied by English school children as part of the GCSE AQA Anthology.

Description

The poem describes four people stuck at traffic lights in downtown San Francisco - two are garbage collectors and two are an elegant couple in a Mercedes. The poem is about the contrast between these people and the gap that is developing between the rich and poor even in the USA which is meant to be a 'democracy'.[1][2] The description of the couple as "Beautiful People" is perhaps ironic as the term was first used to describe those had held countercultural ideals during the 1960s.[2] The poem questions whether America can be called a Russian scam given the disparities in wealth between those, rich and poor.[2]

gollark: Some hardships are really awful and do not give you much feeling of reward for overcoming it. Some you *can't* really overcome (with current technology) e.g. terminal cancer.
gollark: Yes, there is not *actually* any enforced symmetry like this.
gollark: Like how people are mortal and thus decide that death is obviously good because [OBVIOUS RATIONALIZATION] and not evil.
gollark: I mean the generalized thing where once you are in a situation you probably can't escape from you *may* just trick yourself into thinking the situation is cool and good.
gollark: That sounds like cognitive dissonance/weird generalized Stockholm syndrome or something.

References
  1. "Web Archive - GCSE Bitesize - Lawrence Ferlinghetti: Two Scavengers in a Truck". BBC. Archived from the original on 2010-10-31. Retrieved 2009-08-20.
  2. Andrew Moore. "Different Cultures-AQA Anthology for GCSE". Teachit.co.uk. Retrieved 2009-08-20.
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