Gwendolyn Brooks' "We Real Cool"
The poem 'We Real Cool' by Gwendolyn Brooks is a stream of the thoughts of poor inner city African-Americans who have adopted a hoodlum lifestyle. Though many can have different interpretations of this poem, it is fair to look at the life and career or the works and influences of Gwendolyn Brooks.
The life and art of the black American poet, Gwendolyn Brooks, began on June 7, 1917 when she was born in Topeka, Kansas. She was the first child of Keziah Corine Wims and David Anderson Brooks. When she was four, her family moved to their permanent residence on Champlin Avenue in Chicago. Her deep interest in poetry consumed much of her early life. For instance, Brooks began rhyming at the age of seven. When she was thirteen, she had her first poem, 'Eventide', published in American Childhood Magazine. Her first experience of high school came from the primary white high school in the city, Hyde Park High School. Thereafter, she transferred to an all-black high school and then to the integrated Englewood High School. By 1934, Brooks had become a member of the staff of the Chicago Defender and had published almost one hundred of her poems in a weekly poetry column. In 1936, she graduated from Wilson Junior College.
Another part of her life came as she married Henry Blakely just two years after she graduated from college. At the age of twenty-three, Brooks had her first child, Henry, Jr., and by 1943, she had won the Midwestern Writers Conference Poetry Award. Her first book of poetry, published in 1945, altered a commonly held view about the production of black arts in America but also brought her instant critical acclaim. In addition, she has accompanied several other awards, which includes two Guggenheim awards, appointment as Poet Laureate of Illinois, and the National Endowment for the Arts Lifetime Achievement Award. Brooks was the first African-American writer both win the Pulitzer Prize and to be appointed to the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Brooks received more than fifty honorary doctorates from colleges and universities. Her first teaching job was at a poetry workshop at Columbia College in Chicago. In 1969, the Gwendolyn Brooks Cultural Center opened on the campus of Western Illinois University. She went on to teach creative writing at a number of institutions including Northeastern Illinois University...
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...from the dullness of schoolwork to many possibilities. The next lines poke fun at the value of education and celebrate their street learning. ?Lurk late,? ?Strike straight,? ?Sing sin,? and ?Thin gin,? contradict any possibility for mental growth. Symbolism comes in the picture in the next line, ?We Jazz June,? which has many meanings. The word ?Jazz? signifies sexual intercourse. Then the word ?June? becomes a female. The tone of the poem dramatically changes when the reader learns the dropouts die soon. The group end in the last line, ?Die soon,? the final consequence of trying to be cool. Seemingly having fun in the beginning being cool, they are now completely powerless because they are dead. The poem really gives an obvious picture of what young African-American males are driven to do under the impression of trying to be cool. Since their minds are headed straight to corruption, they have no clue because they are having so much fun being cool. Leaving school, staying out late, singing sin, drinking alcohol, and having sex apparently are the only things that are important to them. With this mentality, more and more inner city males while continue hastening toward their death.
Justin Torres Novel We the Animals is a story about three brothers who lived a harassed childhood life. There parents are both young and have no permanent jobs to support their family. The narrator and his brothers are delinquents who are mostly outside, causing trouble, causing and getting involved in a lot of problems and barely attending school, which their parents allowed them to do. The narrator and his brothers were physically abused by their father, leading them to become more violent to one another and others, drinking alcohol and dropping out of school. Physical abuse is an abuse involving one person’s intention to cause feelings of pain, injury and other physical suffering and bodily harm to the victim. Children are more sensitive to physical abuse, they show symptoms of physical abuse in short run and more effects in the long run. Children who sustain physical abuse grow up with severely damaged of sense of self and inability. The narrator and his brothers were physically abused by their father and showed long run symptoms of Antisocial behaviors, drinking problems and most importantly they becoming more violent themselves. Many psychological and sociological studies such as “Childhood history of abuse and child abuse potential: role of parent’s gender and timing of childhood abuse” and “school factors as moderators of the relationship between physical child abuse and pathways of antisocial behavior can be used to prove the argument that children who sustain physical abuse grow up with criminal and antisocial behaviors.
The Message of Gwendolyn Brooks' "We Are Real Cool" "We Real Cool" is a short, yet powerful poem by Gwendolyn Brooks that sends a life learning message to its reader. The message Brooks is trying to send is that dropping out of school and roaming the streets is in fact not "cool" but in actuality a dead end street. Brooks conveys her message in an ironic manner, which is presented in the title of the poem. Before actually reading the 10 line poem, the first thing that grabs the reader's attention is the title. After reading the title "We Real Cool" one would assume that the intent of the poem is going to be about a group of people who are fortunate and live a flamboyant lifestyle.
In today's century pennies has no purchasing power,pennies are useless and should be abolished.Pennies are not worth the same amount as they did before. Pennies are made out of copper,but if we use the copper for a more valuable coin that could be utilized,states will get rich and have a beneficial in the economy."Arizona is rich in copper...bigger percantage of the large-denomination coins that might be more heavily used it the penny were discontinue."(Source A) If pennies would be "discountinue" the states that have copper would make coins that are in use and beneficial for the people.For example, quarters,dimes,and nickels are worth more than a penny and are in use and acceptable in stores or even vending machines.Making,"A system under which cash transactions would be rounded up and down"(Source A) would be an advantage for the United States.This is a system that would help the stores by not wasting time counting pennies.When,"replacing paper dollars with long-lasting $1 coins"(Source A) would benifit the economy by making dollar coins which will be more beneficial than an ordinary penny.
This is not to say that Caesar did not support those of the patrician class, in fact he was more than generous to those of a higher class. He supported Hortalus, grandson of the orator Hortensius, by giving him one million sesterces in order to maintain the family’s position (Tacitus, Annals 2.37, cited by R. Ridley, 2003), and this was not the only example of his giving to patricians. We must then consider why he emphasizes his generosity to the common people, and I think that the key to this is the placement of the source. Res Gestae was inscribed upon pillars in a public area- it was designed to be seen by those of all classes, not just those of a higher class, like many forms of literature were in Augustus’ era. He wants those who will see his work to look upon him in a favourable light, and the best way for Augustus to achieve this was to make himself out to be a friend to the common people.
In her work, “This is Our World,” Dorothy Allison shares her perspective of how she views the world as we know it. She has a very vivid past with searing memories of her childhood. She lives her life – her reality – because of the past, despite how much she wishes it never happened. She finds little restitution in her writings, but she continues with them to “provoke more questions” (Allison 158) and makes the readers “think about what [they] rarely want to think about at all” (158).
This will save considerable amounts of government money: almost $40 million annually (Cavanaugh 70). Eliminating the penny will also save time in lines at grocery stores and will save the environment from pollution. In order to avoid these adverse effects, penny production must be either eliminated or lowered. Although many people have thought of a penny-recycling program to try to avoid these adverse effects, no ideas have been implemented. “Despite the fact that the US has recycled 21.8 million tons of metal in 2013, a recent year for which details are available, not a single penny is recycled, at least by the mint” (Cavanaugh 70). The fact is that, as forms of electronic payment such as credit cards or PayPal are becoming more popular, all forms of physical currency, not just the penny, are becoming obsolete. Some might even argue that the nickel or dime isn’t worth keeping in circulation, not to mention the penny. By eliminating the penny, the government will spare not only United States citizens, but also itself the trouble of dealing with the insignificant
First, getting rid of the penny would have a negative effect on charities. For example, Washington Middle School raised $3,000 in pennies alone in one week. All the proceeds of the fundraiser went to a charity, and most of charities money comes from pennies. Also, people don’t mind donating pennies because they think they are “cheap”, and are more cautious of donating things like nickels, dimes and quarters. There are power in numbers, people think that them donating one cent won't mean anything, but they add up quicker and more effectively than people think. So, as you can see, charities benefit and get a lot of their money from pennies, so getting rid of pennies, would hurt them (Waterhouse).
If pennies are no longer being used as often, are they making our economy lose money? The amount of supplies, electricity to run machines, and labor for those working can add up to be costlier than the economy has profited from money earned back from pennies. If the U.S. take away the pennies they will be saving money from no longer needing the supplies and as many employees and machines. Individuals have tried to brainstorm ways of getting giving the penny a new name for say to make it more popular or try to bring it back into use. Many have considered changing the picture of the penny to maybe try and give things a change, although this could be a good idea the changing of design is not going to differ the amount of money the penny is worth or how often they are used (Source G). The only solution to solving the issue of losing money in the process of making pennies is that they actually become popular again, with taking people opinions on pennies into consideration this outcome is unlikely to happen. Thence, the best solution is to abolish the penny so the economy can save its money and use it to better our
When discussing the poetry of the Harlem Renaissance, due to the strength of their relationship, one must look at Blues and Jazz. Many viewed this genre as a voice for the black communities and as “the New Negro poets expressed a deep pride in being Black” (Smith, 1983, p. 37) it is easy to see how this influenced their poetry. The main theme of Blues were the troubles of life and finding an escape, and this underlying dissatisfaction was incorporated into poetry as a response to many of the injustices present. For example, a clear example of this is Langston Hughes’ Homesick Blues which uses many of the key techniques from Blues songs, such as short lines to create urgency. The poem discusses the effect of prejudices and injustices on the black communities, especially when it comes to finding a home and an identity. There is a subtle, irregular rhyme scheme from words such as “sun… done” (Ramazani, 1994, pp. 152-3) which strengthens the influence. The dull, full rhymes create a sense of dissatisfaction and boredom, as if the speaker has given up on life. Hughes similarly uses many colloquialism and phonetics, which were common in Blues songs, such as “De Railroad Bridge/ a sad song in de air” (Ramazani, 1994, pp. 152-3), which furthers racial pride and identity, present in Blues and Harlem Renaissance poetry. However, perhaps the strongest example of how the Blues genre infl...
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.
Walker grew up attending segregated schools, first East Putnam Consolidated, and then Butler Baker High School, where she graduated in 1961 as Valedictorian of her class. She then attended Atlanta’s Spelman College, a college for black women, on a scholarship. In 1963, she was awarded another scholarship and transferred to Sarah Lawrence College in New York. She later became pregnant in 1964, which again made Walker suicidal. She turned to her writing, and ultimately ended the pregnancy. After all the commotion, and problems Walker wrote her first published story, “To Hell with Dying” (1965) she later graduated Sarah Lawrence in 1965.
...t social injustices (Weidt 53). Because of her quest for freedom, she gave way to writers such as Gwendolyn Brooks and Countee Cullen. Countee Cullen wrote "Heritage," which mixes themes of freedom, Africa, and religion. It can be said, then, that he gave way to writers such as Gwendolyn Brooks wrote "Negro Hero," which is about the status of the African American during the 1940s. Clearly, these poets followed the first steps taken by Phillis Wheatley towards speaking out against social issues, and today's poetry is a result of the continuation to speak out against them
Dr. Maya Angelou was born on April 4, 1928 in St. Louis Missouri. Angelou was raised in St. Louis and Stamps, Arkansas. In Stamps she was faced with the brutality of racial discrimination, and a very traumatic incident where she, she was raped by her mother's boyfriend when she was eight, but because of this she also developed an unshakable faith and values of traditional African-American family. (Angelou)This shaped her poetry and her involvement in the arts. Where she began to sing and dance and planned to audition in professional theater but that didn’t work out well because she began working as a nightclub waitress, tangled with drugs and prostitution and danced in a strip club. In 1959, she moved to New York, became friends with prominent Harlem writers, and got involved with the civil rights movement. In 1961, she moved to Egypt with a boyfriend and edited for the Arab Observer. When she returned to the U.S., she began publishing her multivolume autobiography, starting with I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings as well as several books of poetry and the third being Still I Rise in published in 1978. (Maya Angelou is born) Because of this life of hardship shaped her to who she is and was the inspiration for a lot of her poetry.
Wheatley was the first African American woman living in America to publish a book of poems at the age of 19, Wheatley was brought from Africa to
The Penny Debate written Bran Andrews discusses the different points of view about the maintenance or elimination of the usage of the penny in American´s daily life. My opinion about the debate is that the penny should get rid, there are a variety of reasons which support my opinion in a more concise way. The first argument to eliminate penny is that it requires too much money to manufacture and distribute it all around the country, it is more expensive to produce it than the proper value of the coin. Furthermore, according to the U.S Mint’s 2014 annual report the cost to make each penny was 1.70 cents and with nearly 8 billion pennies minted in 2014, the U.S. spent almost $132 million to produce less than $50 million of circulating currency.