Pride in Chicago by Carl Sandburg

837 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Carl sandburg chicago poems 1916

Pride: we can take it in what we do, who we are, and what we’ve overcome. In Carl Sandburg’s “Chicago” he writes about the criticism and judgment that comes at his city, Chicago, and her laborers. The theme he portrays in his poem is that people can be proud no matter what they do, where they live, and what people think of him/her. He illustrates this theme through, word choice, imagery, and relational shifts throughout the poem.

First of all, the poem tells us the thesis stated through word choice. Initially, the poem tells they’re theme through vile words that are not very pleasant to show what other people think of them. The reader says in the poem, “ And they tell me you are crooked and I answer: Yes, it is true/I have seen gunman kill and go free to kill again./And they tell me you are brutal and my reply is: On the faces/Of women and children I have seen the marks of wanton /hunger” (Sandburg 9-13). The words that grab you, the more vile words like, wanton hunger, gunman, kill, brutal, etc, they show the disgust that other people have pegged on him and his city. Another way the literature represents the theme with word choice is through proud word choice. It reads “And having answered so I turn once more to those who sneer/at this my city, and I give them back the sneer and say to/ them:/Come and show me another city with lifted head singing so/ proud to be alive and coarse and strong and cunning.” (Sandburg 14-18). Many of the words in these lines are prideful, showing that the people in this city don’t care about what other people think of them. Subsequently, Carl sandburg uses stark and bold words to show his city is as rough as wild animal. “Bareheaded,/Shoveling,/Wrecking,/Planning,/Building, breaking, rebuilding,” ...

... middle of paper ...

...g writes, “THEY TELL me you are wicked and I believe them/ And they tell me you are crooked and I answer: Yes/ And they tell me you are brutal/Laughing the stormy, husky, brawling laughter of youth, half-naked, sweating, proud to be hog butcher, tool maker, stacker of wheat, Player with railroads and Freight Handler to the Nation.”(Sandburg 6-41). The attitude in the poem changes from the beginning of the speaker admitting to faults, to standing proud of the imperfection of his city.

To reiterate, Carl Sandburg, wrote this poem, to express that though his city has faults and gets judged, the people in the city are proud of their roughness and backbones. The author proves this theme through word choice, imagery, and shifts throughout this poem. Possibly what Sandburg was getting at is that you got to be proud with what you got, what you have to do, and who you are.

Show More
Related

  • Pride in The Crucible by Arthur Miller

    804 Words  | 2 Pages

    In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, both pride and excessive pride influence the characters throughout the play. Pride is a sense of one's dignity and worth. Excessive pride is being overly confident of one's own self worth. Throughout, pride influences the actions, reactions, and emotions of the characters in such ways to establish the outcome of the story. Three characters are impelled by their pride. Hale, who takes pride in his ability to detect witchcraft; Elizabeth Proctor, whose pride makes forgiving her husband difficult; Proctor, whose excessive pride causes him to overlook reality and the truth.

    Read More

  • Where Men Win Glory, by Jon Krakauer

    812 Words  | 2 Pages

    September 11, 2001 marked a tragic day in the history of the United States; a terrorist attack had left the country shaken. It did not take long to determine those who were behind the attack and a call for retribution swept through the nation. Citizens in a wave of patriotism signed up for military service and the United States found resounding international support for their efforts in the war on terror. Little opposition was raised at the removal of the Taliban regime and there was much support for bringing Osama Bin Laden and the leaders of al-Qaeda to justice. Approval abroad diminished approximately a year and a half later when Afghanistan became a stepping stone to the administration’s larger ambition, the invasion of Iraq. The administration would invent several stories and in some cases remain silent of the truth where would prove positive for the Iraqi invasion. It seems they were willing to say anything to promote the largely unpopular and unnecessary war they were resolved on engaging in.

    Read More

  • Where Men Win Glory, by Jon Krakauer

    1088 Words  | 3 Pages

    Where Men Win Glory is an ironic euphemism for war. The title is ironic because there is nothing glorious about war or the way it ended Pat Tillman’s beautiful life. Jon Krakauer orchestrates this masterpiece with his diligently, articulated descriptions and with a timeline sewn together from the threads of two worlds. The author’s style can best be characterized by his challenging, precise diction and his ability to fluently intervene pertinent quotes and facts that further persuade the reader toward his cause. Throughout the book, the author’s tone harnesses resentment towards the militant hierarchy; for through its ingenuousness, deceit, and manipulation, the military uses Pat’s death as propaganda to bolster the war’s support. Furthermore, the military covers up the fact that Tillman was a victim of fratricide, and it deceives the nation into believing Tillman’s end was a valiant fight against insurgents. When the truth is exposed and pursued by Dannie - Pat’s mother - the army destroys evidence and pleads guilty to ignorance as a rebuttal. This book is molded by three prodigious aspects that help to illustrate Pat’s life story. The carelessness of war, importance of family, and enhancement through change were all important ingredients that created a virtuous life. Each theme, in addition, challenges me personally to reassess the facts I have been fed and the reality that I have been presented. By doing so, I can achieve a sound base of knowledge and an intellectual prowess capable of challenging all facts presented.

    Read More

  • Life in Oklahoma City by Ralph Ellison

    1785 Words  | 4 Pages

    The author Ralph Ellison is a renowned writer and scholar with significant nonfiction stories credited to his name. He was born in Oklahoma City about the year 1913. His family had a small business wherein his father worked as a foreman but soon died when he was only three years old. After several years, he later found out that his father wished that he would someday become a poet after the great American essayist popularly known as Ralph Waldo Emerson who became his namesake. His mother was Ida Millsap Ellison who was involved as a political activist campaigning for the Socialist Party. Moreover, she was arrested several times in violation of the segregation orders.

    Read More

  • The Good Soldiers by David Finkel

    967 Words  | 2 Pages

    A true war story blurs the line between fact and fiction, where it is neither true nor false at the same time. What is true and what is not depends on how much you believe it to be. In the chapter “How to Tell a True War Story” from the novel “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien, the author provides various definitions to how the validity of a war story can be judged. The entire chapter is a collection of definitions that describe the various truths to what a true war story is. Unlike O’Brien, who is a novelist and storyteller, David Finkel, the author of “The Good Soldiers”, is a journalist whose job is to report the facts. Yet in the selection that we read, chapter nine, Finkel uses the convention of storytelling, which relies heavily on the stories the combat troops tell each other or him personally. Finkel attempts to give an unbiased view of the Iraq war through the stories of the soldiers but in doing so, Finkel forfeits the use of his own experiences and his own opinions. From O’Brien’s views on what a true war story is combined with my own definitions, I believe that Finkel provides a certain truth to his war stories but not the entire truth.

    Read More

  • Charles Dicken's A Tale Of Two Cities By Tupac Shakur

    895 Words  | 2 Pages

    Tupac Shakur once wrote about the rose that grew from the concrete, which by keeping hold of its dream proved nature’s law wrong. The motifs of the rose that grew from the concrete are repeated in Charles Dicken’s A Tale of Two Cities and reflected in the life of Tupac Shakur. Driven by a yearning for the redemption of their troubled pasts, Sydney Carton and Tupac make amends with those who hurt them, pledging themselves to a higher calling.

    Read More

  • Embracing Defeat by John Dower

    3331 Words  | 7 Pages

    John Dower's "Embracing Defeat" truly conveys the Japanese experience of American occupation from within by focusing on the social, cultural, and philosophical aspects of a country devastated by World War II. His capturing of the Japanese peoples' voice let us, as readers, empathize with those who had to start over in a "new nation."

    Read More

  • Racism In The Fire Next Time By James Baldwin

    836 Words  | 2 Pages

    In “The Fire Next Time,” James Baldwin uses two essays not only to examine racism during a time when the civil rights movement was just emerging, but also to present readers with the consequences America’s intolerance of the black population. During Baldwin’s lifetime, racial injustices plagued America, and, for blacks, equality was merely an idea, not a reality. Despite the racism, Baldwin sees that America still has a chance to right its wrongs by learning to love and accept those of different races. If blacks and whites learn to accept each other, Baldwin believes that America will become stronger as a nation.

    Read More

  • The Souls Of Black Folk by Du Bois

    1584 Words  | 4 Pages

    Lynch is a writer and teacher in Northern New Mexico. In the following essay, she examines ways that the text of The Souls of Black Folk embodies Du Bois' experience of duality as well as his "people's."

    Read More

  • America, by Claude McKay

    1105 Words  | 3 Pages

    Though dealing with the situation is difficult, the poem goes on to express that going through this ordeal has only strengthened the resolve of the African American community. Lines 4-9 of this poem speak to toughness and resolve of the African American community in the fight to gain equality. McKay even goes as far ...

    Read More

  • Where Men Win Glory, by Jon Krakauer

    1202 Words  | 3 Pages

    Throughout the ages, men and women have been at the heart of myths and legends, evolving into tragic heroes in large part due to the embellishment bestowed upon them over the ages. From Odysseus and Achilles to Brutus, Hamlet, and King Lear, epic poems have revolved around the tragic hero. Pat Tillman was a man of many aptitudes and virtues, never satisfied by the mediocre, striving for more adventure, more meaning, in his tragically short time on Earth, and personifying the phrase carpe diem. Even Pat Tillman had tragic flaws; his unwillingness to be typical, his undying loyalty to family and country, and his curiously concrete set of morals amalgamated to set in motion Tillman’s eventual death. These, whatever the outcome might have been, are not by any means, the archetypical tragic flaws. They are, as Jon Krakauer later described, “tragic virtues.” Where Men Win Glory is not solely a tribute to Pat Tillman. What makes it truly unique is its exhaustively comprehensive history preceding Tillman’s death, and equally essential, the events that transpired following his death, including the cover-ups, scandals, corruption, falsified documents, indignities, and lies that facilitated, also, in emphasizing the core themes, of which Tillman was the epitome. Tillman’s fidelity and devotion to the people whom he loved, the use of misinformation and cants surrounding his death, and others’ responses to what Tillman considered paramount in his life all played a key role in the tragedy of a man who won glory.

    Read More

  • The Great Migration

    1140 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...one example of how African-Americans were forced to live in big cities and how the North wasn’t as promising as it was supposed to be.

    Read More

  • Pride by Dahlia Ravikovitch

    1730 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the poem pride, Dahlia Ravikovitch uses many poetic devices. She uses an analogy for the poem as a whole, and a few metaphors inside it, such as, “the rock has an open wound.” Ravikovitch also uses personification multiple times, for example: “Years pass over them as they wait.” and, “the seaweed whips around, the sea bursts forth and rolls back--” Ravikovitch also uses inclusive language such as when she says: “I’m telling you,” and “I told you.” She uses these phrases to make the reader feel apart of the poem, and to draw the reader in. She also uses repetition, for example, repetition of the word years.

    Read More

  • Celebrating Achievements and Face Advercity in Langson Hughes' Poem, Negro

    695 Words  | 2 Pages

    This poem represents the resiliency of the African American spirit, Although African Americans were enslaved, overworked and victimize the speaker is still proud to be a “Negro.” The speaker wanted to be the voice that represented all the unfair and injustice experience African American endured. Most importantly he wanted to end the poem they way he started the poem… Proud to be a “Negro.”

    Read More

  • The Road Not Taken, by Robert Frost

    959 Words  | 2 Pages

    On the surface the poem seems to be a meditation on past events and actions, a contemplative reflection about what has gone on before. Research into the poem informs us that the poem is written with a sense of irony

    Read More

More about Pride in Chicago by Carl Sandburg

Open Document