Compare the Ways the Central Characters Are Created in 'the Clown Punk' and 'the Hunchback in the Park

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Both the poems ‘The hunchback in the park’ and ‘The clown punk’, represent an isolated and indigent central figure. In ‘The hunchback in the park’ the central figure seems to have a life lacking in guidance, drifting around in the local park ‘from the opening... until the sunday sombre bell at dark’ he is represented as very poor ‘eating bread from a newspaper’ he doesnt seem to have the money to eat properly. Perchance Thomas is trying to display the Hunchback as a man who has tried and failed to be part of a movement. In ‘clown punk’ the central figure is a old punk, who also seems to wander around town, ‘three times out of ten you’ll see the town clown’. Its as though he has no purpose in life anymore and so spends his time wandering. Maybe Armitage is trying to portray the hopelessness of the man without direction as a direct resilt of the 1970s punk movement and its lack to actually change anything within society. All that is left of this for the central character is ‘the sad tatoos of high punk’. Both poets use their central characters to communicate their ideas about society and how once an individual no longer fits in, or has served their purpose they are cast out, mocked ‘hunchbacked in mockery’ or shield away from, you kids in the back seat who wince and scream. In both poems the poets Armitage and Thomas have created their central character predominantly through their use of language. In ‘the clown punk’ Armitage effectively uses a simile to compare the central character to a walking basket of washing, ‘like a basket of washing that got up’. In doing this Armitage is creating the image of a man who takes no pride in his appearance, so much so his clothes are dirty and creased as a basket of washing would be. It is ironic that the central character takes such little time in his appearance now, as he clearly did in his youth, he used his appearance, to
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