Analyzing John Murillo's Poem 'Enter The Dragon'
John Varghese
Professor Black
English 130
17 March 2014
Understanding the Difference In the poem, “Enter The Dragon”, we see a relationship between the speaker and his dad. Throughout the poem, there is a shift in tone. One interpretive problem presented by John Murillo’s “Enter The Dragon” is the tone the speaker uses when he says “I learn the difference between cinema and city, between the moviehouse cheers / Of old men and the silence that gets us home” (ll. 30-31). The poem begins with the speaker and his dad watching a Bruce Lee movie, Enter The Dragon. For the speaker the good part “starts with a black man / Leaping into an orbit of badges,” (ll.1-2). Here we are seeing imagery because you see this black man, Jim Kelly a super hero, being in the middle surrounded by cops orbiting him. The black man uses “arc kicks” and “karate chops” to beat the thirty cops. After beating them up, Kelly takes off with …show more content…
the cop car. And the way the speaker talks about this is in a good tone.
The next couplet, the speaker talks about moviegoers saying deep hallelujahs and drowning out the “wah wah” guitar. We see here the poem is not only addressing the relationship between the speaker and his dad but the poem is also concerned with race. The “deep hallelujahs” connects to the black church and the wah wah guitar addressing the white race. Then the speaker talks about his dad “glowing so bright he can light the screen / All by himself.” (ll. 12-13). We see the speakers tone as being confident when he talks about his dad. After the movie is over, they’re driving back “cadillacking across King Boulevard” (l.15) jabbing and clutching with popcorn breath and see lights flashing in the cracked side mirror. From this moment on, the poem of the tone changes. The speaker then says “I know what’s Under the seat,” (ll. 20-21). We are not sure what the speaker means by this statement. Could there be drugs, weapons, or nothing at all? When the cop leans into the father’s window, Murillo writes: When my father- this John Henry of a man- Hides his hammer, tucks away His baritone, license and registration shaking as if
Showing a bathroom pass to a grade school
Principal
(ll. 26-29)
From this piece of the poem, we note that the speaker is having a different sense of tone when he talks about his dad. In the earlier part of the poem, the speaker talks about his dad in a poised way. Now as he sees his dad looking nervous as cops are approaching their car, the speaker has a different outlook on his dad. When he says the father hides his hammer (not literal), we see symbolically the father is hiding his dignity. The speaker also portrays his dad as John Henry. But actually at this point, he is turning from John Henry of a dad to a child. Not only does he hide his hammer, he also tucks away his baritone. The next line also proves how the dad is frightened by the cops; shaking the license and registration as if showing a bathroom pass to a grade school principal. Not only is it a simile, but also shows imagery of his dad being afraid of the cops. And this was something the speaker was not expecting. When the speaker sees all this unfolding, he sees his dad in a different way. In the beginning after they watched the movie, they were having such a great time together and pretending to be like the characters that played in the film. When the cops approached the car, the speaker had this sense of confidence in him that he can beat up all the cops just like Jim Kelly beat up all the cops in the movie. His dad, however, did not have the same self-assurance as his son when the cops came. In the last three sentences, Murillo writes: I learn the difference between cinema And city, between the moviehouse cheers Of old men and the silence that get us home. (ll.29-31)
Here in these last lines, we see a dramatic change of tone than from how the poem began.
Only in these lines do we see the speaker realizing the difference between cinema and city. Cinema which signifies noise and city which indicates reality. The cinema is Kelly beating up the cops and that’s what the speaker wanted to do when the cops came near his car. But on the other hand, the dad understands that what he saw in the movie is different than what he is actually facing. Not only does the city suggest reality but silence as well. The last line says “silence that get us home” meaning that the father understands that the only way he is going to go home is if he chooses silence over noise, which he does. If he chose noise it would not bring him and his son home. The reality is getting home. The speaker wasn’t expecting this from his dad. He was not really disappointed at his dad but frustrated. He knows that there is going to be a moment in his life where he’s going to go through the same thing and realize that reality and cinema are not the same
thing.
Works Cited
Murillo, John. “Enter The Dragon.” Up Jump The Boogie. New York: Cypher Books, 2010. 17-18. Print
Professor Black
English 130
17 March 2014
Understanding the Difference In the poem, “Enter The Dragon”, we see a relationship between the speaker and his dad. Throughout the poem, there is a shift in tone. One interpretive problem presented by John Murillo’s “Enter The Dragon” is the tone the speaker uses when he says “I learn the difference between cinema and city, between the moviehouse cheers / Of old men and the silence that gets us home” (ll. 30-31). The poem begins with the speaker and his dad watching a Bruce Lee movie, Enter The Dragon. For the speaker the good part “starts with a black man / Leaping into an orbit of badges,” (ll.1-2). Here we are seeing imagery because you see this black man, Jim Kelly a super hero, being in the middle surrounded by cops orbiting him. The black man uses “arc kicks” and “karate chops” to beat the thirty cops. After beating them up, Kelly takes off with …show more content…
the cop car. And the way the speaker talks about this is in a good tone.
The next couplet, the speaker talks about moviegoers saying deep hallelujahs and drowning out the “wah wah” guitar. We see here the poem is not only addressing the relationship between the speaker and his dad but the poem is also concerned with race. The “deep hallelujahs” connects to the black church and the wah wah guitar addressing the white race. Then the speaker talks about his dad “glowing so bright he can light the screen / All by himself.” (ll. 12-13). We see the speakers tone as being confident when he talks about his dad. After the movie is over, they’re driving back “cadillacking across King Boulevard” (l.15) jabbing and clutching with popcorn breath and see lights flashing in the cracked side mirror. From this moment on, the poem of the tone changes. The speaker then says “I know what’s Under the seat,” (ll. 20-21). We are not sure what the speaker means by this statement. Could there be drugs, weapons, or nothing at all? When the cop leans into the father’s window, Murillo writes: When my father- this John Henry of a man- Hides his hammer, tucks away His baritone, license and registration shaking as if
Showing a bathroom pass to a grade school
Principal
(ll. 26-29)
From this piece of the poem, we note that the speaker is having a different sense of tone when he talks about his dad. In the earlier part of the poem, the speaker talks about his dad in a poised way. Now as he sees his dad looking nervous as cops are approaching their car, the speaker has a different outlook on his dad. When he says the father hides his hammer (not literal), we see symbolically the father is hiding his dignity. The speaker also portrays his dad as John Henry. But actually at this point, he is turning from John Henry of a dad to a child. Not only does he hide his hammer, he also tucks away his baritone. The next line also proves how the dad is frightened by the cops; shaking the license and registration as if showing a bathroom pass to a grade school principal. Not only is it a simile, but also shows imagery of his dad being afraid of the cops. And this was something the speaker was not expecting. When the speaker sees all this unfolding, he sees his dad in a different way. In the beginning after they watched the movie, they were having such a great time together and pretending to be like the characters that played in the film. When the cops approached the car, the speaker had this sense of confidence in him that he can beat up all the cops just like Jim Kelly beat up all the cops in the movie. His dad, however, did not have the same self-assurance as his son when the cops came. In the last three sentences, Murillo writes: I learn the difference between cinema And city, between the moviehouse cheers Of old men and the silence that get us home. (ll.29-31)
Here in these last lines, we see a dramatic change of tone than from how the poem began.
Only in these lines do we see the speaker realizing the difference between cinema and city. Cinema which signifies noise and city which indicates reality. The cinema is Kelly beating up the cops and that’s what the speaker wanted to do when the cops came near his car. But on the other hand, the dad understands that what he saw in the movie is different than what he is actually facing. Not only does the city suggest reality but silence as well. The last line says “silence that get us home” meaning that the father understands that the only way he is going to go home is if he chooses silence over noise, which he does. If he chose noise it would not bring him and his son home. The reality is getting home. The speaker wasn’t expecting this from his dad. He was not really disappointed at his dad but frustrated. He knows that there is going to be a moment in his life where he’s going to go through the same thing and realize that reality and cinema are not the same
thing.
Works Cited
Murillo, John. “Enter The Dragon.” Up Jump The Boogie. New York: Cypher Books, 2010. 17-18. Print