Younger Generations Presentation in "Stealing"

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“Duffy’s poetry portrays the voice of the younger generation solely in a negative way.” Focus on ‘Education for Leisure’ and ‘Stealing’. Duffy’s poetry portrays the voice of the younger generation in a negative way however I disagree with the fact that it is solely negative. A negative voice is presented through poems such as ‘Education for Leisure’ and ‘Stealing’ furthermore the reader is questioned whether the negative voice is society’s fault for the oppression over the younger generation. Education for Leisure is a monologue told by a marginalised and disaffected youth with a sinister and unstable voice, drawn to acts of violence. Firstly, the speaker informs us that he is “going to kill something. Anything” this shows that they have a lot of pent up energy and cannot find a productive way to excel this energy which illuminates their frustrated attitude and slightly psychotic state of mind. Who or what they want to “kill” seems irrelevant, so long as the gesture is dramatic enough and gains the world's attention, because the speaker wishes not to be “ignored” any longer. The reader may feel intimidated towards the character but pity and sympathise with them at the same time because society is not giving them a chance. The fact that the speaker doesn’t want to be ignored shows that they clearly want empowerment but no one seems to even acknowledge him, this is also shown through the repetition of “I” which threads themes of childishness and immaturity, showing that the character yearns and craves attention, it is quite obvious that this person’s world revolves around them where they are too ignorant to see beyond this. However, it could be argued that the voice is not solely negative because there are only empty threats mentioned with no real violence other than squashing a “fly” which is completely harmless and something we have all done. The cat that

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