How and why is a social group represented in a particular way in relation to Carol Ann Duffy's "Stealing"?

“Stealing”^[1] is a poem chosen from the collection of Carol Ann Duffy’s “Standing Female Nude” (1985). The social group I am focusing on is the white working class males that are portrayed as juvenile delinquents in the poem. A juvenile delinquent's viewpoint can be understood through understanding the context of Thatcherism.Unemployment and crime rates were visibly prevalent. Margaret Thatcher was elected prime minister in the May 1979 general elections. Acknowledging the situation of inflation and the growing power of trade unions, a reactionary Thatcher Revolution was thus taken into action. Unfortunately, the Monetary Policy was ineffective as an all-rounded view had not been adopted. Cutting industrial subsidies rendered three million unemployed and a decline in manufacture production, which caused for the miners’ strike (1984). ^[2]Although the persona’s gender may be ambiguous, the context, diction and the way how violence is conducted throughout the poem suggest he is male. The predominant sex undertaking occupations in the manufacturing and coal mining industries were male. The psychological mental state, resentment towards class division and inability of expression explains for their motivations to steal.           Through the characterization of the persona, it suggests that boredom leads to crime. Due to unemployment and the lack of social mobility, the persona is unable to find meaning in life and is consumed by his boredom, almost to the point where “(he) could eat (him)self”. This point is made clear by the form of the poem, which is a dramatic monologue exemplified by the hypophora of the opening sentence and the rhetorical question of the ending sentence. The audience is initially engaged by the hypophora “The most unusual thing I stole?” (line 1) and is led onto tracing the reasons why the snowman has such importance to the persona. A suggestion of being interviewed about his experience on stealing is hinted, notwithstanding the absence of the conductor’s voice allows the audience to enter and explore the persona’s state of mind of alienation. An interesting detail to notice is the usage of colloquial language such as fragmented phrases and caesuras, such as “his torso,/ frozen stiff,/ hugged to my chest” (line 7-8), implying the subtext of his difficulty in communicating where there is no give and take. This results in the distance that he keeps from people and vice versa with the outsiders’ resistance towards him. However, the persona’s depiction of the snowman is juxtaposed with the usage of intricate figurative language of a simile and imagery, “A tall, white mute/ beneath the winter moon” (lines 2-3) and “a mind as cold as the slice of ice” (line 4). Social alienation is inferred as he almost spills his heart out, using emotive language and almost employing a soliloquy when he talks about his experiences and innermost emotions as traces of his emotional state of mind can be identified.The creative talent and poetic ability of the persona is nascent.Duffy utilizes the persona’s materialistic attitude as a commentary towards the Thatcherism mindset. Margaret Thatcher said, “there is no such thing as society”, the mindset of individualism and the pursuit of self-interest is instilled and propagated by the introduction of capitalist social policies which eradicates the social responsibility of the wealthy. Showing indifference towards the marginalization of the lower class’ rights was normalized and facilitated the widening of the wealth gap.^[3] The message “Life’s tough” was widely propagated in the Thatcherism society. This asserts the short yet forceful message that their hard work is never acknowledged, and only resounds futility. The seeds of class resentment is planted into the hearts of the working class as they do not see themselves in the society’s future. In fact, the persona’s hatred has been fueled to the point where he wishes to impose this feeling onto the inferior -- the children, as he explains that “part of the thrill was knowing that children would cry in the morning”. He steals the snowman just as how he wants to steal the innocence and peacefulness of the children. This can also be seen as class retaliation as the children were middle class who lived in houses with “yards”. Having said such a comment would suggest his emotional detraction from compassion and understanding as he himself has been treated the same way. Through this, Duffy is suggesting economic and social inclusion as the solution and highlighting the importance of the arts. The imagery of the persona “standing alone among lumps of snow” creates the atmosphere of solitude and abandonment. An interesting point to notice is the diction in the phrase “lumps of snow”, where a parallel between melted snow and the ruins of the society is created. Separated by the punctuation mark of a comma follows the caesura, where he declares is “sick [1] of the world”, expresses his resentment to “the world” where Thatcher exacerbated the social classes.The motivation behind juvenile delinquency of stealing and destroying the snowman from his neighbour’s house explains his longing for companionship. The notion of touching something beautiful and being repelled is conveyed. People tend to find companions that are similar to them. He listed out the criteria of “a mate” of being “mute” and its mental state of being “as cold as the slice of ice within my own brain” using simile. This suggests that he is the same. Not knowing how to show love, he tried to connect with the snowman by “hug(ging it) to his chest” but in return getting “a fierce chill/ piercing (his) gut”. We can also see a frustrated artist who is trying to confine to the materialistic world when he “stole a guitar and thought (he) might learn to play” and “nicked a bust of Shakespeare”. Hopelessness is perpetuated as his effort of experimenting new opportunities has never been acknowledged.Utterly speaking, the motivations behind the persona’s acts of juvenile delinquencies is closely related to the socio-political climate of Thatcherism and the capitalistic culture that was created. Perhaps, this poem is written to introduce a new perspective and raise awareness towards this situation.^[1] See “Appendix” page 4^[2] Pettinger, Tejvan. "Thatcher’s Economic Policies." Economics Help. 28 Nov. 2012. Web. 07 May 2016.^[3] "Thatcherism." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 30 Sept. 2016.diction: disease of juvenile delinquency is a result of the exclusion of the working of the benefits of society- youth employment > majority of employment --> social upheaval, permeation