Arguments Participation Paper 1 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Arguments Participation Paper 1 - Assignment Example They mock at the racial inequality as dust gets settled on both the white and the black. The economic exploitation and indifferent treatment toward the tunnel workers are evident in the lines 9-12. Muriel has been a social activist taking her poetry to the level of political statements. She has worked for the cause of various political and social issues during her time. In her poem, â€Å"George Robinson: Blues†, she depicts the gruesome, inhuman life of the black tunnel workers in the town of Gauley Bridge. The town is characterized as the â€Å"Negro town† sarcastically, as it does not own them but disowns them by sending tunnel workers in bulk to the cemetery on top of the hill. George, the speaker presents an insider’s view of the life in the tunnel. White dust settling on the blacks deconstructs the racial coding and makes it difficult for the outsider to identify the ‘white’. The tunnel worker, masked in white dust, proceeds gradually toward the graveyard in the top of the hill left unattended by doctors. They are not provided with the basic medical facilities nor are cared for by the authorities. They are left to die so inhuman. He says how the workers die in huge numbers due to the unhealthy working conditions. â€Å"Did you ever bury thirty-five men in a place in back of your  house/thirty-five tunnel workers the doctors didnt attend/ died in the tunnel camps, under rocks, everywhere, world/ without end† (9) ironically portray how inhuman the tunnel workers are looked upon. It is very clear that the tunnel workers are commodities looked upon only for utility and when they turn sick and not fit to work and turn over profit, the authorities step in only to remove them from the job. George says, â€Å"when he couldnt keep going barely/the Cap and company come and run him off the job surely† (15). The poet has depicted the social picture of the tunnel workers in the voice of an