Nighthawks Poem Analysis

Nighthawks

In life, some people may be Nighthawks. They are not like an owl of the night, but outcasts. These people have isolated themselves emotionally from those around them and are just feasting upon life’s most taboo pleasures. Using the socially disconnected characters, Samuel Yellen emphasizes the idea that that only by living a life of daring and excitement will humans ever be truly content with their lives.

Those described in the poem are described majorly as being distant from one another; they are disconnected socially and emotionally. Although the man and woman are right next to each other -- their hands close, but not touching -- they do not even know each other. There is also the man across from them with a hunch back, living

out his unknown years guarantee off the back of a lethal decision.

As well as the man behind the counter, separated physically from those on the other side. Along with the characters in the poem being described as if they were isolated from each other, the poem itself is from the disjointed reader’s point of view. It shows you as disconnected from them as they are from each other, blocked by the pane of curved glass looking among the patrons with a complacent eye. Though are we not lucky to be not one of those located at the diner? Their pleasures pleased and their satisfactions satisfied through their actions to create a sense of affirmation in their existence on this planet. Each one of them has done one thing or another seen as taboo in society in order to bring some sort of excitement into their probably bleak and dreary lives.

The poem opens to describe “Al’s Coffee Cup or the Hamburger Tower” (Yellen 3) at “The [...] corner of Empty and Bleak” (Yellen 1), setting the mood

that the people described are at a basic coffee shop or hamburger joint, supposedly run by the bartender who we can assume is named Al. These facts are important because it describes the situation in which they are at this shop. They are not there mid day, nor is it anywhere fancy. They are at this generic shop because it happens to be what is open into the late hours of the night, the only place for a quiet escape from the busy reality they are living in. Though the people involved at this shop do not speak. (Yellen 4). They merely sit amongst one another in silence, possibly because they have nothing to say to one another. Although the man and woman sit beside each other, they are complete strangers socially, and the man across from them has nothing to say, he is just a hawk of the night, wishing to stay a loner. Those seated at the counter are not the only characters in this story, for you, the reader, are among the characters described. You walk along the outside of this shop, noticing and describing what you call “patrons of life” (Yellen 6). These people may only see life as though they are patrons to it, having only a stay where they are to gorge on what it has to offer before they inevitably leave sooner or later. They just wish to be served the pleasures or satisfactions of whatever life has to offer. Nighthawks addresses this idea and opens up an entire new world of ideas about what we can infer over this character as well as the others. The author uses their pleasures and experiences to let the onlooking reader understand how they have ended up where they are.
Starting with the hunched man facing away from us, he has been described to have “once put a gun to his head in Russian roulette” (Yellen 10). Placed in this precarious situation, he was faced with his lethal decision, he pulls the trigger and one of two things could have happened, he lives or dies. This action begs the question as to why he did what he did. Was he forced? A drunken bet? “[He] whirled the chamber, pulled the trigger, won the bet” (Yellen 11) what was this bet for? While this raises many questions, we know for a fact that he won this sadistic game where the prize might have been simply keeping his life while somebody else did not. “And now he lives out his x years’ guarantee” (Yellen 12) this last line shows how his life is unknown, he has completed that chapter. I believe this proves that his reward for this bet was keeping his life, nothing besides that. With this information you could infer that he was forced into this game by someone else through possibly bad dealings or somebody he crossed while yearning to add pleasure in his life just as the other patrons had as well. This man is a hawk, willing to take chances on his own life to move ahead. He sits alone in the diner and in life. What makes him a Nighthawk is the fact he put his own life on the line for personal gain or pleasure, not caring about the consequences in the process.
Moving onto the next couple at the bar, if you could even call them a couple. Although on the outside they may seem as if they were together, that is just a physical connection that they share, no emotional connection whatsoever. Having bonded through sex, these two have felt passion and happiness. Vigorously and desperately they have loved not long ago, but now they sit beside one another, nameless and without connection besides their past. They share a coffee and cigarette but nothing else, their personal relationship with one another is non-existent. Together they share “no local habitation and no name” (Yellen 20), showing how they have not even wished to understand who the other is. These few facts open up many interesting truths about these patrons. The man and woman both share a common disinterest for the passion or connection society has placed upon the act of sex, as well as placing no value on one another, the togetherness of the act. Because of the way they treat sex, it could be a symbolic gesture as to the weight society has put on the act of sex. As time passes, less and less people abide by the old ways. More people are removing the emotional connection associated with sex and in doing so, they themselves are becoming nighthawks. As people continue to do this, they create smaller emotional and social connections with others, effectively removing the once common stigma surrounding premarital sex. They are simply Nighthawks, loners brought together to share in the pleasure life gave them only to return back to solitude and move on with their own lives, forgetting that their secret fling ever happened.
Finally, the last character really depicted in the poem, the reader. Although a background character, they are more important than they seem. You are just a passerby, looking into the glass of the diner late at night. From what you see is how you have described the characters as shown: the Nighthawks. You walk by “Al’s Coffee Cup or The Burger Joint” (Yellen 3) with a smug thought about you, a feeling as though you are better than those inside. You look upon these patrons “with a complacent eye” (Yellen 23) judging those inside, not knowing them personally, as they do not know you and supposedly do not know each other. Is it right for you to feel as though you are lucky when you walk past? Not to be one of the Nighthawks, having truly indulged in the pleasures and satisfactions that life has to offer you. The reader states how “Our satisfactions satisfy, our pleasures, our pleasures please” (Yellen 23-24) knowing that each person in life has felt their own pleasures, and have been satisfied in their own ways, yet the reader still looks upon them smug. As if, their own satisfactions are better than anybody else's. What is not answered is why the reader is outside the shop, are you a Nighthawk yourself, having given into life’s most taboo pleasures on your own? Although you judge those for being social outcasts inside the shop, you walk alone through the night without a description as to why, leading the reader to infer that you are one of the shameful Nighthawks described.
Other authors agree with my interpretation of this poem, and what the poem is based off of.

Lynn Aikman is quoted with saying “Nighthawks is a powerful and dramatic portrayal of loneliness” (Aikman 27). In her interpretation she notes the man and the woman, specifically how their hands almost are touching but not quite, and how this creates a sense of “Sexuality, boredom, solitude, detachment, and thoughtfulness” (Aikman 27). Another critic, Rebecca Swayze has said how the scene itself really emphasizes “the dichotomy of the city as a place for life and a place for work” (Swayze 27). She believes there is a stark juxtaposition between the characters and the setting itself, they contrast between their loneliness, and the lively nature of the city scene in which their coffee shop is located. These other critics all have close to the same idea over their interpretation of the work, while some may be worded differently, almost every one of them believes that “Nighthawks” is supposed to highlight the deep purpose of modern human nature to seclude ourselves even in the most crowded, and busy

lives.
All characters displayed in the poem, whether apparent or not, are under the category of Nighthawk. A patron of life, coasting through suckling upon the satisfactions that life has to offer. Whether these satisfactions be adventure and excitement, or for pleasure. When you take out the social and emotional appeal of the social taboos, they are no longer wrongs, just the apple of lust for you to indulge upon, and that is what Nighthawks do. These satisfactions and pleasures life has granted us are what make humans happy. By escaping the bonds of society and feasting upon what is viewed as wrong in the eyes of the public, will human beings every truly be happy with their lives.