No Problem (Edexcel GCSE English Literature)

Theme

Evidence

Poet’s intention

The conflict of racism

The poem is split into two stanzas:

• The first stanza addresses the conflict between stereotypical expectations of the speaker as a Black person and his sense of self
• The second stanza contains the speaker’s reflection on his experience and a final affirmation of his central message: “Black is not de problem”

In the first stanza, the speaker explores and rejects a series of different Black stereotypes:

• He does this through descriptions of the conflicts between people’s racist expectations and the reality of his true potential 
• Zephaniah is illustrating how stereotypical ideas about Black people limit their opportunities

In the second stanza, the speaker shows his strength and resilience:

• He doesn’t bear a grudge about the abuse he suffered
• Instead, he resolves to tackle racism in his country 
• Ending the poem with a joke shows that he has risen above the limited racist mindset of his former abusers

Racism as division

The form of the poem mirrors its content:

• The first stanza maintains a positive tone; despite the abuses suffered by the speaker, he’ll “greet yu wid a smile” and is confident about his “versatile” talents
• The second stanza is more reflective in tone, as the speaker acknowledges that his experiences might have caused long-lasting damage

The speaker moves from examining examples of racism in the first stanza to reflecting on their effects in the second stanza:

• The break between the two stanzas may be symbolic of the gap between the past and the present
• Alternatively, it may represent the division between the speaker and other people, caused by racism
• However, the tonal shift between stanzas emphasises Zephaniah’s message: that there’s a long way to go in addressing or resolving racism in England

Theme

Evidence

Poet’s intention

The repetition of the phrase, “I am not de problem” conveys the theme and message of the poem:

• The final iteration of this phrase, “Black is not de problem”, directly names the poem’s central conflict

Zephaniah is showing that each of the situations his speaker describes is caused by other people’s racist perceptions of him:

• He is demonstrating that he is not the source of the problem of racism
• He feels the need to state this because of stereotypical misperceptions, often promoted by the media, about Black people being the cause of racial issues, rather than the victims
• Instead, the cause of any problems is the ignorance and prejudice of other people

Conflict and racial identity

While most of the rhyme scheme is consistent, some rhymes are not full ones:

• For example, “brunt” and “stunts”, or “academic” and “athletic”

The use of subtle rhymes illustrates the gap between the speaker’s feelings and other people’s actions:

• The speaker bears the “brunt” (suffers the effects), but other students perform the “racist stunts”
• The speaker knows he’s “academic”, but his teachers make him “athletic”
• Zephaniah is showing the disconnection between his speaker’s reality and prejudiced assumptions about Black people

With few variations, there are three main beats in each line:

• This isn’t regular trimeter, because the number of unstressed beats varies
• For instance, “I am not de problem” has fewer unstressed beats than “Now dey got me on de run”, but the number of stressed syllables is the same

The rhythm of the poem gives it a direct, speech-like quality: 

• The effect is to emphasise the conversational quality of the poem; it sounds like someone talking to you
• Zephaniah wants to get his message across as directly and to as wide an audience as possible

He is also consciously rejecting traditional European forms of poetry in order to affirm his identity as a Black man with Jamaican heritage

The directness of the poem’s tone is emphasised by the use of “yu”:

• This feels as though the reader is being spoken to directly
• For instance, when the speaker states, “Yu put me in a pigeon hole” 

The use of direct address begins halfway through the first stanza, after the speaker has detailed their experiences at school:

• There is a change in perspective, from being a spectator of the events that the speaker is narrating to being implicated in them
• The use of “yu” instantly confronts readers/listeners, drawing them into the speaker’s conflict with racism
• Zephaniah wants to challenge his readers/listeners to question their own actions, and perhaps their unconscious racial prejudices

Zephaniah is indicating that the problem exists by referring to it repeatedly:

• It could link to the poem’s main message that Black people are not “de problem” and are not to blame for racist abuse
• It could illustrate the speaker’s resilience, because he shows that he has no problem getting past his experience of racism
• It could also be referring to a common misperception that, because laws exist to make racial discrimination illegal in certain contexts, racism is no longer a problem in the UK
• Zephaniah sees racism as a pervasive and continuing problem

Zephaniah uses phonetic spelling to reflect his natural speech patterns:

• Expressions like “If yu give I a chance” and “juss fe de record” identify the speaker as a Black man with Jamaican heritage
• Zephaniah is rejecting standard formal English in order to reclaim poetry from the historical dominance of European poetic forms and to assert his unique identity

The poem uses single words to represent concepts and attitudes: 

By using single words to represent something much bigger, Zephaniah is inviting readers to “unpack”, or investigate, these terms:

• When people focus on the potential meanings of the words they hear or use, it makes them think more carefully about avoiding (racist) stereotypes and labels

The conflict of racism is illustrated by oppositional language:

• For instance, in the lines

“Yu put me in a pigeon hole/But I am versatile”, the conflict is between the constriction of pigeonholing someone and their potential to break out of that constraint

Zephaniah maintains a positive tone for most of the poem, but he doesn’t avoid – or want his readers/listeners to forget – the conflict that lies at its heart:

• The line “I greet yu wid a smile”, which rhymes with “versatile”, takes on a less friendly tone in the context of the conflict between “pigeon hole” and “versatile”

Topic sentence

Both poems illustrate their writers’ views about racism through specific examples, and both are clear about where the responsibility for racism lies

Evidence and analysis

'No Problem'

'Half-caste'

Zephaniah tackles racism directly:

• After describing some of his experiences, he concludes: “Black is not de problem”

Agard also addresses the issue of racism head-on:

• The poem begins with a short stanza ending “I’m half-caste”

Zephaniah is clear about where the responsibility for racism lies:

• At the end of the poem, he demands: “Mother country get it right”, implying that England gets race wrong and must improve

Agard is also clear about who is responsible for racism: 

• When he suggests his listener return “wid de whole of yu eye/ear/mind”, the implication is that the listener has only used half their faculties and not thought things through

The repetition in 'No Problem' shows the speaker’s refusal to accept responsibility for the racism of others:

• He insists several times: “I am not de problem”, and finally, “Black is not de problem”

The repetition in 'Half-caste' conveys its confrontational tone very effectively:

• The speaker repeatedly demands that his listener “explain yuself/wha yu mean”

The poem uses phonetic spellings to achieve a speech-like sound and rhythm:

• A good example is the line “An juss fe de record” 

The poem uses dialect spellings and words to produce a speech-like sound and rhythm:

• Examples include the line: “So spiteful dem dont want de sun pass/ah rass”

The speaker’s “I” and his multiple opponents – “yu”, and sometimes “dey” – are clearly in opposition:

• The speaker attempts to put things right when he says “If yu give I a chance” 

The conflict in the poem between the “I” of the speaker and the “yu” of his listener is very clear: 

• In comments like “An I will tell yu” they confront each other in the same line

Zephaniah avoids using much punctuation, relying on the sounds and rhythms of the poem to show where the pauses and stresses should be

Agard rejects conventional punctuation and spelling completely, which makes the form of the poem a statement about his own identity

Both poems take an confrontational approach to racism, identifying the source of the problem and celebrating their own identities 

Topic sentence

Although both poems tackle the issue of racism directly, their approaches differ slightly in their focus, tone and humour

Evidence and analysis

'No Problem'

'Half-caste'

Zephaniah’s humour is more direct and often relies on rhyme to emphasise his point: 

• For example, in the lines “Yu put me in a pigeon hole/But I am versatile”, “versatile” rhymes with the previous “smile”
• This emphasises “versatile” and also reflects back on “smile” to make it sound less friendly

Agard’s humour is indirect and metaphorical, using a succession of analogies and satirical speculation:

• He compares 'No Problem' to painting, the music and the weather
• He satirises “half”ness with a series of statements about his senses, dreams and shadow

'No Problem' engages with a range of racist experiences over a longer period of time, from school days to adulthood

'Half-caste' focuses on one racist term to illustrate the experience of racism and the case against it

The rhyme scheme in the poem is regular, with an ABCB structure, often using half-rhymes to illustrate the distance between the speaker and the people around him:

• Rhyming “academic” with “athletic” shows the situation from the perspective of the speaker, then from the perspective of others; the gap in perception is illustrated by the half-rhyme

While there is rhyme in the poem, it is irregular and works to emphasise certain words, usually for humorous effect:

• “Half-caste till dem overcast” is an example of the way Agard brings together his analogies, suggesting that racism is like the English weather

Zephaniah ends his poem on a fairly positive note:

• His speaker is “positively sure” that his experiences haven’t left him with grudges
• “Sum of me best friends are white” conveys hope for the future, although it can also be read as an ironic joke
• Zephaniah is using a few people (his white friends) to represent all white people, which is typical of the type of thinking he is criticising

Agard ends his poem on a negative note:

• His speaker’s “but yu must come back tomorrow” isn’t a hopeful request, as it would require the listener to engage with “the whole” of their ear, eye and mind

Zephaniah’s focus is varied, and he ends the poem on a positive, humorous note, while Agard's anger focuses on a single example of racism, and he maintains his angry, confrontational tone to the end of the poem 

Topic sentence

Both poems interrogate how prejudice affects their sense of identity directly, and both use humour to make their case

Evidence and analysis

'No Problem'

'The Class Game'

Zephaniah uses repetition to emphasise his theme and subject: 

• The phrase, “I am not de problem” is repeated as a refrain throughout the poem
• The final iteration of this phrase, “Black is not de problem”, identifies the poem’s central conflict directly

Casey’s speaker also uses questions to challenge her listener:

• “How can you tell what class I’m from?” she asks repeatedly, to expose the listener’s prejudices against her working class background
• The final iteration of her question, “Why do you care which class I’m from”, reveals her central message: that class differences shouldn’t matter as much as they do

The poem has a regular rhyming scheme, and Zephaniah often uses rhyme for humorous effect: 

• For example, the last lines rhyme “get it right” with “Sum of me best friends are white”
• His use of rhyme emphasises the ironic humour of the speaker’s demand and his inverted assertion about having white friends to strengthen his message about racial prejudice

After her opening lines, Casey uses rhyming couplets to rhyme each statement, often for dramatic or humorous effect:

• For example, she rhymes “toil” and “oil” to illustrate the difference between working class hands and hands that don’t do manual work
• Her use of rhyme emphasises her anger about class prejudice by rhyming examples with each other

Zephaniah focuses on several examples of the way racism has affected his identity:

• These include being subjected to racist bullying, being made to do sports, and having his intelligence and knowledge underestimated

Casey’s poem also focuses on different examples of class prejudice, which she assembles to make her case: 

• These include the way she speaks, where she lives and what she calls things

Zephaniah focuses on the way the speaker is seen by other people, as well as the way he feels about it: 

• When he states that “I can teach yu of Timbuktu/I can do more than dance”, he’s highlighting what he’s capable of, in contrast with what other people expect of him

Casey also draws attention to the way her speaker is seen, as well as the way she sees others:

• “I can talk posh” and “wear an ’at”, she argues, revealing the underlying prejudice that focuses on her background rather than her behaviour

'No Problem' uses Zephaniah's own Caribbean dialect and register to assert and celebrate his racial identity

'The Class Game' employs Casey’s northern, working class dialect to establish her pride in her class identity

Both poems use techniques like repetition and rhyme to get their message across, and both use humour to critique prejudice

Topic sentence

While both poems address the way that prejudice affects identity, they focus on different types of prejudice and use different techniques

Evidence and analysis

'No Problem'

'The Class Game'

Zephaniah focuses on racial prejudice and his racial identity as a Black British man with Jamaican heritage

Casey focuses on class prejudice and her class identity as a northern, working-class woman

The poem uses direct address, but also narrates events: 

• The speaker addresses “yu”, the reader, directly, but also talks about “dey” when he’s discussing his experiences
• The switch to “yu” makes readers question their own views

The poem presents its argument in the form of a dramatic monologue:

• The unseen listener is presented as someone who displays social prejudice against working-class people; somebody who is middle or upper class

Zephaniah employs a fairly regular trimeter, which gives the poem a strong rhythmic quality:

• The rhythm of his dub poetry is another way in which he affirms his identity as a Black man with Jamaican heritage

Casey’s lines are of different lengths with an irregular number of beats:

• This reproduces the speech patterns of the speaker in a naturalistic way, reinforcing her sense of identity

Zephaniah uses single words to represent concepts and attitudes:

• For instance, he uses “academic” to represent the speaker’s natural interest in intellectual subjects 
• This technique makes people think about how words are used, including their own

Casey includes more detail in her descriptions of class prejudice:

• For instance, “Don’t I crook me little finger when I drink me tea?” is a very direct, detailed, visual description
• These realistic descriptions are less open to interpretation; they mean what they say

The poem ends with a demand for change:

• “Mother country get it right” shows that the speaker (and Zephaniah) are still fighting for racial equality

The poem ends with an assertion of identity: 

• Casey’s final line, “And I’m proud of the class that I come from”, is a statement, not a demand

Zephaniah uses a range of poetic techniques to address racial identity and argue for change, while Casey addresses class identity in a more realistic way, and doesn’t call directly for change