“V” is a poem in which Tony Harrison illustrates the hostility of the working class towards the political establishment and Margret Thatcher's government during the strike of the Miners of 1984. However, it also focuses on the unity between him and his "wife" as well as his parents. It is also clear that this poem is centered on a confrontation with himself. “Tony Harrison took inequality, deprivation and division and gave them physical existence.” The title of this poem, "V" stands for versus and instantly tells the reader that it is focusing on the division in British society: "Class against class as bitter as before, the endless violence of the United States and THEM, personified in 1984.” Harrison used this quote to refer to the 1984 miners' strike, which was a turning point in British society. A division across the nation was created depending on which side you supported and tore many families apart. Additionally, Harrison references one of his other poems: “Them and UZ”; by which he highlighted to the reader how the upper class judged the working class based on their pronunciation of the English language. Although his poem is notable for its bitter, angry, and potentially divisive tone, this work also represents an attempt to place Harrison himself in a meaningful historical and gender context. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Harrison includes specific dates and place names such as "1984" and "Leeds United" for two main reasons: firstly, to give the reader something to communicate with effectively, particularly those from the working class. Matching his words with context makes his poems more accessible to people of his culture by giving it a sense of reality and encourages the sense of conflict within the poem and the "tug of war through Tony himself » (Simon Armitage). Second, Harrison places "1984" on a shorter line than the others, where it cannot be missed; to let the irony of Orwell's novel speak for itself. Totalitarian oppression manifests itself in police brutality towards the working classes. When the poem "V" was first published it caused outrage and the Daily Mail described Harrison as a "potty-mouthed poet". This is due to the initial confrontation between Harrison and his alter ego, the skinhead. “But why inscribe these graves with CUNT and SHIT?” “This pitman from the last century smeared with PAKIGIT, this Broadbent grocer sprayed with NIGGER? Harrison used such language not to "wake the dead from their deep peace" but to shock the living. They are used deliberately to illustrate to the reader how “the public has an unflinching view of the divided society in which we live”. When it was first broadcast on Channel 4, Mary Whitehouse and other mainly Conservative MPs attempted to prevent the poem from being broadcast purely on the basis of the language used. This is ironic because the poem focuses on fundamental issues in our modern society, but what shocked people was the language used and not the division that clearly exists between “US and THEM”. Additionally, many feminist readers protested the use of the word "cunt" because of its inappropriate reference to a woman's body. However, one could argue that Harrison does not use these "taboo" words in an insulting manner, at least where Harrison the man is concerned, but only as part of the skinhead dialect. These are the “words of the people” and criticismhave argued that if Harrison had tamed this poem, he would have been dishonest to himself, to his readers, and especially to his roots. This also suggests that he could have been this skin, but was estranged from his alter ego due to his high school education. “So what’s a cri-de-Cœur, asshole?” You can't speak the language your mother spoke. Think about that! Can you even speak fucking Greek with your tongue; » She didn't talk like you to begin with! I screamed where I thought the voice was." The irony of this stanza lies in the fact that the skinhead assumed that "cri-de-Cœur" was a word from the Greek language, when in reality this is a French expression indicating a passionate appeal or protest Additionally, Harrison expresses his divided self and the divided British society during the 1984 strike by employing two voices throughout the poem in; a conflicting dialogue with an educated poetic voice Harrison and his alter ego illustrate that "Tony Harrison's language is the locus of class struggle. Moreover, the two voices used are distinguished by the impression of the skinhead's voice." in italics; which is ironic because Harrison reinforces the already existing division since the character of the skinhead can be seen as a stereotype By dividing himself into two voices, Harrison is empowered to express the anger and distress of the working class skinhead and. to bring his voice into dramatic confrontation with his own educated voice. The contrast created between the two characters allows him to emphasize to the reader that there is anger within all uses; however, it is “education that gives us definitive control over how we express this anger and our emotions.” The cemetery in which Harrison's parents are buried and where he hopes to be buried is the connection point between Leeds High School and the football stadium, where Leeds play United and "disappoint their fans week after week". “If the buried ashes saw, I would examine the places where I learned Latin and Greek, and left the ground where Leeds United play.” These two locations are used as a juxtaposition to each other because, ironically, they are connected by the cemetery. They also act as a metaphor for the working class and middle class that Harrison is torn between; it is the linking factor between these two classes, but it is also divided by each of them. After visiting his parents' grave, Harrison returns home and focuses the poem on the theme of unity. “Home, home, home, to my wife as the red darkens from flesh blood to dried blood. Home, home, for my wife, home to the bed where opposites sometimes seem unified.” The word “house” is repeated consecutively in this stanza and serves as a parallel to the word “against,” which was also repeated earlier. This last episode of the poem brings him back to his companion and the heat of the coal fire. “The house, my wife’s house, where the fire is lit…and the vegetation has perished from the pit.” Ironically, his home is not in Leeds, but elsewhere. However, it is clear that he has managed to escape part of this division which tormented him because he feels united with his working-class roots through the evocation of "the vegetation of the pit"; a reference to mines. Additionally, this part of the poem offers the reader a degree of hope and optimism, but its strength is lessened by the use of the phrase: “sometimes seem united.” Harrison admits that a perfectly integrated society is unrealistic. However, he hopes that the barriers between “Black/White, man versus woman and class versus class” will be transcended. This is evident because he later states: "I know what the word UNITED than the skin must mean”.