I Am Tourist Poem Analysis

Adrian Mitchell explores the modern tourist, in particular their hypocrisy irony and attitude towards foreign cultures. He points out and criticises their superficial mindset, as well as their self-centered nature. The poem is written through the point of view of one of such mindless tourists, and follows his journey along, focusing on his perspectives on the events.

The poem starts off with the opening statement of “I am Tourist”. This already gives the reader an idea of the narrator, who solely identifies as a tourist. This identity is given further significance by the lack of an a before tourist, and the capitalisation of the T throughout the poem. The identity of Tourist reoccurs numerous times i.e when the narrator refers to his “Tourist Wife” (l.9) and them living their “Tourist Life” (l. 11). Not only is the T in tourist capitalised, but also Wife and Life, which links both aspects to tourism, implying that the narrator would be nothing if it weren’t for his identity as a tourist.

There seems to be an element of class present in the first few lines, shown by “a cold glass in my hand” (l. 2) during the tourist’s flight. This suggests that the might

25-27). This portrays the tourist’s frustration. He then says that he just wants “a mattress / And a pool and a bar / Just like back home”, which further supports Mitchell’s idea of the modern tourist; how he’d want to venture out to experience new places and cultures, but in the end will reach a point where they’d just want to in a place like home. This is followed by the final line, “I am Tourist”. On one hand this repetition of the first line brings closure, on the other hand this emphasises the stereotypical tourist in his needs to explore new places and cultures, while keeping the simplicity and comfort of his home, which highlights the irony or satire of the modern