Gwendolyn Brooks’, “We Real Cool”, is a poem about seven pool players that are assumed to be friends. The poem talks about how the players are doing things, while they are living; such as, skipping school and staying out late, which also signifies that the players are still in their youth. There is a bond of loyalty within the players because there is a repetition of “We”, which signifies unity of a group of people, used throughout the poem. Brooks’ attitude towards the players is very encouraging because she is trying to tell them that they only live once, so enjoy life while you can. Her attitude also tells the seven players to believe in themselves and be different from everyone else. The poem also represents the mindset and culture of African American men back when times were difficult.
In the poem the repetition of “We” is used often. “We real cool. We/Left school” (Line 3-4). This line shows how the seven players are confident in themselves and nothing can bring them down. Brooks states, “So when the seven say
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‘We real cool’ at the beginning of the poem, they are confirming their sense of identity as being separate from the dominant” (Sarnowski 1999). As shown in this quote, the seven know, that it is okay to be different from society and that’s what Brooks is trying to encourage them to do, be different. In the poem the author’s tone portrays that the players are laid back and living in the moment, with the use of internal rhymes throughout the poem. “Lurk late” “Strike straight” “Sing sin” “Thin gin”: The rhyme pattern brings a sense of immaturity to the poem. And it also shows that the seven players are not really educated because of the basic rhyme that is used. “Left school” (Line 4). This shows that the seven players most likely did not finish up their high school education, which can be a reason they used such basic rhyme. “how the seven ‘Left school.’ This act of violation of one of the dominant culture’s primary commandments: one must complete one’s formal education (Sarnowski 1999). What Sarnowski is trying to say, is that in the dominant African American culture, children now-a-days are taught to stay in school and that education is the key to success. With the seven being as part of the “counter culture” they have decided to skip school. Dominant culture is mostly used today, and it teaches an individual at a young age that the way to succeed in life is to get an education, stay out of trouble etc. Now the counter culture is going against the beliefs of the dominant culture. People in the counter culture mostly do the wrong things like skipping school, which can lead to gang activity and other dangerous involvement. Some people can switch into the dominant culture in a matter of time. And Brooks is trying to show young people that school is not for everybody and that is okay. This is also a way of Brooks telling the players that it is okay to be different from the dominant culture. This poem can also represent the struggles of African American men during that time period which was in the 1960s. During those times things were tough for African American men, African Americans period. The men at the time were trying to find their identity and break away from the norm of slavery, imprisonment, and violence. “Black men are taught violence and aggression as the keys to survival” (Hooks 2003). This quote means that African American men had to toughen up at birth because that was the only way they were going to survive this cruel world. As a result of being tough all the time, and being the most that they can be, this can lead them into violence and gang activity: “Lurk late. We/Strike straight. We” (Lines 5 and 6). “By saying that the seven ‘Lurk late’, the poem suggests that they are sneaking around at night, which leads to possibility that they are engaged in criminal activities (Sarnowski 1999). As explained by the quote the seven are up to something mischievous when they are out that late at night, and it’s not something holy. This point of view of the poem shows how African American men were trapped in three ways: mentally, physically and emotionally. Black men are trapped in these categories because of the unwanted image society has created of them. They are mentally trapped because they are taught from a young age that they have to fight their way through life in order to survive. This mindset goes back in to slavery times where the men had to fight to protect their families from their masters. And having that mindset is what brings them into violence and fighting not only with themselves but with other people as well. Black men are trapped emotionally because as said before they are taught to be tough at birth so it’s hard for them to show emotion towards because people because they weren’t given sufficient affection when they were younger. They were taught to suck it up and be a man. But since that time society then instilled that black men were seen as dangerous people. It came to the point where Caucasian women would feel unsafe and seek protection from African American men that were walking on the street because they thought that the men were going to attack them. “-and young black males are drastically overrepresented among the perpetrators of that violence” (Staples 167). This means that back then with all the crimes happening that involved rape, murders etc. Black males were the first to be targeted and accused for such actions. The appearance of black men also made it difficult for them in society and also certain actions that they did. Back then there were black business men and journalist hat were often well dressed. One would think that a well-dressed black man can cause no harm, but that was wrong. Staples expressed, that when he was a journalist he ran into an office of a magazine with his deadline story in his hand and he was mistaken for a burglar (168). The fact that Staples was a black man, running, and holding a piece of paper in his hand, he was a thief stealing a paper from the office rather than a journalist that was in a rush. That was the image that was created for black men. Overtime black men in this time started to get accustom to these reactions from other people. So as a result, the black men started to adjust their behavior so that they wouldn’t “scare” other people. Staples says: Over the years, I learned to smother the rage I felt at so often being taken for a criminal. Not to do so would surely have led to madness. I now take precautions to make myself less threatening. I move about with care, particularly late in the evening. I give a wide berth to nervous people on subway platforms during the wee hours, particularly when I have exchanged business clothes for jeans. If I happen to be entering a building behind some people who appear skittish, I may walk by, letting them clear the lobby before I return, so as not to seem to be following them. I have been calm and extremely congenial on those rare occasions when I’ve been pulled over by the police. (Staples 168) This quote shows how the black men had to live throughout society to live comfortably. They wanted to avoid trouble with the police and conflict with other people and the only way to do that was to keep a safe distance between themselves and other people from a different race. Overall what Brooks is trying to show is that black men were the outcast of the society at one point.
No one really cared about what was going on in their lives because society already had a set image of them. It was hard for them to be comfortable, which is why black men resulted into not going to school, staying out late, drinking alcohol, and raping women. The black men thought that they had no potential to be something more than what society made of them. They struggled for years to remove themselves from this image and it still exist till this day. Gwendolyn Brooks’ ‘We Real Cool’ is not only a poem with different sounds and literary elements. It is about the struggle of the African American community and what they had to do to make other people comfortable even if it risked their own comfort. This poem is also a reflection of society today and how things haven’t really changed amongst the years. How can society change this
image?
Gwendolyn Brooks in “We Real Cool” develops an ironic, sarcastic tone through specific word choice. The poem begins with the phrase “We real cool” (Line 1) so immediately, the reader knows that these pool playing buddies define themselves as “cool”. In their minds, they are the epitomes of
To define the groups of pool players, I studied a pool hall in Waterford, Michigan. This pool hall is located on the Waterford border with Pontiac, right off the main highway, in a collapsing business district. This area has seen its better days; it is now falling down the economic ladder. Now it resembles many inner cities of America. The hall is tucked back in off the highway, next ...
Here, Hayes uses words like “We”, “I” and “theirs” in the poem rather than the definitive names. The word choice displays that Hayes is talking about the group. As he describes in a poem,
Kevin Young’s poem “Negative” has a very controversial topic which is currently on a rise throughout social media, mass media, and even protests. Young states that racial issues within the United States are the cause of Black people having diminished identities. He believes that color of the skin decides the fate of Americans, but later we discover that it is not. There are multiple themes within Young’s poetic work. It’s very hard to depict at first; however with closer examination and applying out of the box style thinking, the poem starts to reveal itself.
This week’s reflection is on a book titled Girls Like Us and it is authored by Rachel Lloyd. The cover also says “fighting for a world where girls not for sale”. After reading that title I had a feeling this book was going to be about girls being prostituted at a young age and after reading prologue I sadly realized I was right in my prediction.
In his essay, “On Being Black and Middle Class” (1988), writer and middle-class black American, Shelby Steele adopts a concerned tone in order to argue that because of the social conflicts that arise pertaining to black heritage and middle class wealth, individuals that fit under both of these statuses are ostracized. Steele proposes that the solution to this ostracization is for people to individualize themselves, and to ‘“move beyond the victim-focused black identity” (611). Steele supports his assertion by using evidence from his own life and incorporating social patterns to his text. To reach his intended audience of middle-class, black people, Steele’s utilizes casual yet, imperative diction.
Without details, the words on a page would just simply be words, instead of gateways to a different time or place. Details help promote these obstacles, but the use of tone helps pull in personal feelings to the text, further helping develop the point of view. Point of view is developed through the story through descriptive details and tone, giving the reader insight to the lives of each author and personal experiences they work through and overcome. Issa Rae’s “The Struggle” fully emplefies the theme of misplaced expectations placed on African Americans, but includes a far more contemporary analysis than Staples. Rae grapples as a young African-American woman that also struggles to prove her “blackness” and herself to society’s standards, “I feel obligated to write about race...I slip in and out of my black consciousness...sometimes I’m so deep in my anger….I can’t see anything outside of my lens of race” (Rae, 174). The delicate balance between conformity and non-conformity in society is a battle fought daily, yet Rae maintains an upbeat, empowering solution, to find the strength to accept yourself before looking for society’s approval and to be happy in your own skin. With a conversational, authoritative, humorous, confident and self-deprecating tone, Rae explains “For the majority of my life, I cared too much about my blackness was perceived, but now?... I couldn’t care less. Call it maturation or denial or self-hatred- I give no f%^&s.” (Rae 176), and taking the point of view that you need to stand up to racism, and be who you want to be not who others want you to be by accepting yourself for who you are. Rae discusses strength and empowerment in her point of view so the tone is centered around that. Her details all contribute to the perspectives as well as describing specific examples of racism she has encountered and how she has learned from those
The Message of Gwendolyn Brooks' "We Are Real Cool" "We Real Cool" is a short, yet powerful poem by Gwendolyn Brooks that sends a life learning message to its reader. The message Brooks is trying to send is that dropping out of school and roaming the streets is in fact not "cool" but in actuality a dead end street. Brooks conveys her message in an ironic manner, which is presented in the title of the poem. Before actually reading the 10 line poem, the first thing that grabs the reader's attention is the title. After reading the title "We Real Cool" one would assume that the intent of the poem is going to be about a group of people who are fortunate and live a flamboyant lifestyle.
... will keep going until some change takes place. Here, however, the author provides an illustration in his ironic essay for his coolness in the face of ignorance, oppression, terror, outlining the major downfalls in this struggle. Comparing the coolness of himself to other blacks and whites, Alexander successfully shows how lacking America still stands to move towards racial equality. Alexander feels integration has not taken place, rather whites and blacks live together having their own separate cultures and whites absorb desirable aspects of black culture and leave the rest. That is far from integration, and due to his research on this topic, Alexander feels “yes, blacks are cooler than whites.” (Alexander ???)
This poem is written from the perspective of an African-American from a foreign country, who has come to America for the promise of equality, only to find out that at this time equality for blacks does not exist. It is written for fellow black men, in an effort to make them understand that the American dream is not something to abandon hope in, but something to fight for. The struggle of putting up with the racist mistreatment is evident even in the first four lines:
Today, blacks are respected very differently in society than they used to be. In “The Help”, we see a shift in focus between what life is like now for the average African American compared to what it was like for them to live in the 1960’s.“The Help” teaches readers the importance of understanding and learning from our history. The novel is a snapshot of the cultural, racial and economic distinctions between blacks and whites in a particularly tumultuous time in American history. “The Help” encourages readers to examine personal prejudices and to strive to foster global equality.
The image of African-American’s changed from rural, uneducated “peasants” to urban, sophisticated, cosmopolites. Literature and poetry are abounded. Jazz music and the clubs where it was performed at became social “hotspots”. Harlem is the epitome of the “New Negro”. However, things weren’t as sunny as they appeared.
Brent Staples focuses on his own experiences, which center around his perspective of racism and inequality. This perspective uniquely encapsulates the life of a black man with an outer image that directly affects how others perceive him as a person. Many readers, including myself, have never experienced the fear that Staples encounters so frequently. The severity of his experiences was highlighted for me when he wrote, “It also made it clear that I was indistinguishable from the muggers who occasionally seeped into the area from the surrounding ghetto.” (135) Having to accept that fact as a reality is something that many people will never understand. It is monumentally important that Staples was able to share this perspective of the world so others could begin to comprehend society from a viewpoint different from their
...ey for African-Americans. 12 Million Black Voices could not have depicted it better. Their unhappiness, shown on their faces in the photo, their weariness, fear, hopes, and highlights talked of in the text worked together to give us a look into the African-American life then. Today, our lives are better. African-Americans’ lives are better. We have more opportunity and more equality. What we do not have, we fight for. Yet we still see the traces of the past sufferings of our people’s lives today. We still see those traces of racism they were subjected to being repeated in our kin’s lives. And so the struggle continues, but with time it gets better. And this is the new hope. That one day racism will not exist and that no other will suffer like they did.
Over the course of the century chronicling the helm of slavery, the emancipation, and the push for civil, equal, and human rights, black literary scholars have pressed to have their voice heard in the midst a country that would dare classify a black as a second class citizen. Often, literary modes of communication were employed to accomplish just that. Black scholars used the often little education they received to produce a body of works that would seek to beckon the cause of freedom and help blacks tarry through the cruelties, inadequacies, and inconveniences of their oppressed condition. To capture the black experience in America was one of the sole aims of black literature. However, we as scholars of these bodies of works today are often unsure as to whether or not we can indeed coin the phrase “Black Literature” or, in this case, “Black poetry”. Is there such a thing? If so, how do we define the term, and what body of writing can we use to determine the validity of the definition. Such is the aim of this essay because we can indeed call a poem “Black”. We can define “Black poetry” as a body of writing written by an African-American in the United States that formulates a concentrated imaginative awareness of an experience or set of experiences inextricably linked to black people, characterizes a furious call or pursuit of freedom, and attempts to capture the black condition in a language chosen and arranged to create a specific emotional response through meaning, sound, and rhythm. An examination of several works of poetry by various Black scholars should suffice to prove that the definition does hold and that “Black Poetry” is a term that we can use.