Amanda Miller K. Henderson ENG 102/ Essay #3 14 November 2012 Gwendolyn Brooks’ poem‚ “We Real Cool”‚ tells the story of seven troubled teenagers. The poem focuses on what activities the teenagers participate in to make them look cool. Through its symbolism‚ imagery and tone‚ “We Real Cool” illustrates how losing one’s identity to become part of a reckless group in insolence of moral and social traditionalism will lead one to an early grave. Brooks uses symbolism to get the readers to view
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very popular liquor in the 1960’s until vodka came along. Much of their time is spend on the streets instead of pursuing an education. This action is seen as cool‚ and followed by other kids as well. All of the “we’s” that are repeated accentuate a feeling of belonging at the Golden Shovel where they play pool. The pattern of the repeated “we” makes the poem seem as though the actions: getting drunk‚ staying up late and having fun‚ is almost a daily routine that revolves around the Golden shovel.
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Close analysis on We Real Cool This poem is about young school dropouts who make the wrong choices while they are young – ‘Left school’ (line 4)‚ ‘Lurk late’ (line 5)‚ ‘Strike straight’ (line 6) ‘Die soon’ (line 10). The setting could well be in the current‚ because there are still many school dropouts right now and they could possibly make the same choices as the dropouts in the poem. The larger issue is about the coolness of the school dropouts; they die soon‚ so are they really that cool as they
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Death in “We Real Cool” In Gwendolyn Brooks poem “We Real Cool” Seven African-American high school dropouts want everyone to admire them. These teenagers explain how they stay out late playing pool‚ fighting‚ sinning and drinking. Though they believe they have everybody else fooled‚ they know themselves that the destructive behavior they are taking part in will lead to their death. “The sluggard’s carving will be the death of him‚ because his hands refuse to work” (Proverbs 21:25) The Bible makes
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As the sentence suggests the poem “We real cool” is about teenagers who identify themselves as rebels. On the first read‚ the poem seems to be defiant statements made by black Americans. It has an element of bravery that seems defensible and almost desirable. There is a pride in the tone. Pride in rebelling the conventional ways of the society and disobeying several legal structures. They escape the drudgery and dullness of being in school thus opening many possibilities. There is however a change
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Gwendolyn Brooks’ poem "We Real Cool" identifies the struggle that Black American youths went through to define themselves in the late fifties and early sixties‚ in a society that was predominately trying to keep them oppressed. The poem portrays a group of young Black boys who hang out in a pool hall and conduct illegal activity instead of going to school with the rest of their peers. The boys are insecure about their role in society; they talk big so that they can hide behind their facade of being
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the years. In the past African American people weren’t treated with the same respect they are treated now. People used to have very negative views about colored people‚ therefore the discrimination towards African American began. In the poems “We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks and “Harlem” by Langston Hughes the two authors wrote about the racism that people of color had to experience. These two poems were written by authors that were part of the
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Wordsworth’s “The World Is Too Much with Us” and Gwendolyn Brooks’s “We Real Cool‚” the foolish are lamented for their ignorant ways that ultimately cost them dearly. While the bases for their actions lie within the contexts of these poems‚ the mainspring‚ upon which the behaviors depicted in these poems are built‚ is a compulsion to isolate. Ignorance may be bliss‚ but it often comes with consequences. The rebellious youths of “We Real Cool” dropped out of school‚ drank hard liquor‚ walked the streets
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In Gwendolyn Brooks “We Real Cool” we are given a four stanza couplet that shows the daily activities of seven young men that dropped out of school. What I found really fitting in this poem was how the rhythm of the poem related well to the lifestyle of these young men. Each line comes at the reader quickly. Much like the rapid fire delivery of the lines in the poem‚ these characters also live life quickly both literally and metaphorical. The poem is spontaneous as are the characters and each
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teacher. Her works reflected and were based off of struggles and celebrations of individuals in her community. One of her poems‚ We Real Cool‚ is quite short but has much substance. Although it was written in 1959‚ some can say that this poem can also be set in the Prohibition Era. The poem lines‚ “We real cool. We / Left school. We / Lurk late‚” the narrator is saying how cool they are and also shows some type of excitement are because they are in a pool hall when they should be in school getting an
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