The French They are Funny Race
Some foreign countries take it on the chin in the verse spread across the breadth of this collection. In fact, prejudicial stereotyping of the French plays a major plot twist in the “The Toad and the Snail.” This prejudicial perspective is conveyed through imagery which situates the French as not quite normal:
“Frenchman aren’t like you or me,
They do things differently.
They won’t `yards’, they call them `metres’,
And they’re the most peculiar eaters:
A Frenchman frequently regales
Himself with half-a-dozen SNAILS!”
Epiphany of a Pig
In “The Pig” a particularly clever swine is experiencing an existential crisis when he tries to figure out the meaning of his life. Suddenly, his mind is illuminated with the bright flash of an epiphany when it all comes together and spells everything out in imagery that is destined to stimulate the guilty appetites of more than just few fans of pork:
“They want my bacon by the slice
To sell at a tremendous price!
They want my tender juicy chops
To put in all the butchers’ shops!
They want my pork to make a roast
And that’s the part’ll cost the most!
They want my sausages in strings!
They even want my chitterlings!”
“The Scorpion”
Imagery is essential to the poem that warns children not to try befriending a scorpion. The imagery is effective, but does raise the question of if this is truly what a scorpion looks like, what kid in the world would ever try to make friends in the first place?
“His scaly skin is black as black
With armour-plate upon his back,
Observe his scowling murderous face,
His wicked eyes, his lack of grace,
Note well his long and crinkly tail.”
A Spoiled Rotten Boy Named Roy
A plump half-wit kid in San Francisco named Roy is spoiled rotten and his spoiled rottenness sets the stage for the narrative twists and turns in “The Ant-Eater.” Essential to understanding Roy is getting across the fact that his rotten qualities stem from being spoiled with so many possessions that none have any meaning to him:
“Whatever Roy desired each day,
His father bought him right away—
Toy motor-cars, electrics trains,
The latest model aeroplanes,
A color television set,
A saxophone, a clarinet,
Expensive teddy-bears that talked,
And animals that walked and squawked.”
