Literary Analysis Of We Real Cool By Gwendolyn Brooks

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Recommended: Racism in the 1950s and 1960s against black people

Gwendolyn Brooks’ “We Real Cool” (written in 1959 and published in 1960) is a lyric poem that shows a glimpse into the life of seven, young African-American men who have chosen to abandon the social norm of searching for the “American Dream” and, instead, venture into the uncertainty of life roaming the streets (slang for unsavory areas where criminal activity is frequent), where the only certainty is an early death. In a time already plagued with racial hostility, life was guaranteed to come with adversities for young, African-Americans, but to freely choose a life without a formal education or employment was adding unnecessary hardships. “We Real Cool” utilizes a unique combination of literary vices like point of view, rhythm, and syntax to provide social commentary on the reckless lifestyle of some of the youth in the black community at the time. One of the main themes of “We Real Cool” is wasted youth, which is hinted at its title. The title is a sentence using slang and improper grammar, which could reflect the wasted potential of black youth, particularly young, black adolescents, who either skipped school or dropped out completely in order to enjoy their freedom in the streets. Instead of using “really cool,” …show more content…

Despite there being seven narrators of the lyric poem, neither of them have a real voice in their own story that they share together. They have no names, faces, or futures in their own narrative. Due to their own choices, they are nothing more than revolving characters in an ongoing story of wasted youth, whose voices were or will eventually be lost at the hands of reckless living and the lack of foresight, other than the pursuit of fickle

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