Whitey on the Moon by Gil Scott-Heron Poem Analysis

A multitude of different literary devices is put to use in Gil Scott-Heron’s spoken word “Whitey on the Moon” to add a more conversational, colloquial, and ultimately, personal touch to it. This sentiment is especially important in a poem that aims to shed light on an issue of the people. Nearing the end, the narrator questions why “there ain't no money here?” (Scott-Heron 27). Responding to himself, he says “(h)mm! Whitey's on the moon”(28). In lines thirteen and fourteen, he asks why the landlord upped his rent and responds to himself blaming the white man on the moon once again. Within these excerpts, two literary devices function to create this sense of familiarity. On the one hand, hypophoras intend to pique the readers' interest. Hypophoras are exactly that: when someone asks a rhetorical question and directly after answers it themselves. Right after the reader most likely comes up with the answer being “whitey’s on the moon”, the narrator affirms that. When in tandem with the narrator speaking his stream of consciousness, the reader knows what he is thinking. At this point, it is almost as if the audience is sitting there listening to him gripe, and maybe even confess how he feels this is unfair. Otherwise stated, the person reading this poem is not just a reader but a listener. Only by looking at someone eye-to-eye does the listener understand the depth of the emotion these people feel, and especially the self-evident fear and confessional tone. These notably vulnerable emotions let the audience further into the psyche and consequently the listener will be amenable. They will fully understand the problem from the people who receive the short end of the stick. To hammer in the idea of conversing with him, some phrases voice the narrator’s inner thoughts. There is one performance of the poem that Scott-Heron performed before an audience with a drum accompaniment. After he claims that he’ll send his doctor bill in airmail special, he pauses and lets the drum continue the rhythm behind him. Without any hesitation, a woman in the audience shouts out the final line in this pregnant pause: “to Whitey on the moon”. The narrator asks a question, and the reader answers it. Other examples of articulating opinions as if to seek confirmation include expressions like “y’know” (29) and “I think” (31). Once again, in a conversation, the person receiving this information would remark whether they agree or disagree. By creating this authenticity, these shoes for the listener to put themselves in, and a personality given to the narrator, the poem eventually agrees and, by extension, sympathizes with him instead of knowing just the statistics or events. Absorption, understanding, and opinions to a personal degree are reached.