An abandoned bundle

Oswald Mbuyiseni Mtshali

 Question 1 (stanza 1)
1.1 What comparison is being made in stanza 1?

1.2 What is this figure of speech called?

1.3 What is the poet trying to tell us about life in

White City Jabavu by making this comparison?
Stanza 1
The suburb in Soweto compared to a giant, oozing sore:
suggestion of decay, disease. This tells us:
• Firstly, the place is squalid due to poverty and neglect.
• Secondly, the inhabitants are demoralised, emotionally and
spiritually sick because of this poverty and neglect (by
government – ultimately, this is a result of Apartheid
• Thirdly, the suburb is a symbol of all of South Africa which has
become a place of moral decay due to the oppression of
Apartheid.
Question 2 (stanza 2)
2.1 What comparison is being made in this stanza?

2.2 What is the poet trying to tell us about life in this

suburb by using this image? (Hint: consider the
connotations of the words ‘smothered’, ‘little’ and
‘caught’)
 Question 3 (stanza 3)
3.1 What is meant by the ‘red bandanas of blood?

3.2 What do the words ‘scavenging’ and ‘fought

fiercely’ tell us about the dogs?

3.3 What else could the poet be referring to through

this description of the dogs?
 Question 3 (stanza 3)
3.4 What is the effect of the words ‘fangs’, ‘velvet tongues’,
‘scurried’?

3.2 What do the words/phrases ‘squirming’, ‘mutilated corpse’,

‘dumped on a rubbish heap’ tell us about the attitude that has been
shown towards this baby?

3.3 Is there another layer of meaning to the description of the

baby?
Stanza2
‘little houses’ – shows vulnerability; insignificance of
inhabitants within apartheid system

houses are a symbol for the people who feel ‘smothered’

and ‘trapped’ by poverty, neglect, the political system.