Gwendolyn Brooks, We Real Cool

One of DSKUSSS members express her experise on poem. Have you heard of Gwendolyn Brooks? She uses his poem "We Real Cool" to show her point of view on it :) Take a look and give your thoughts through comments.

 

The Final Word:
the Implications of “We” and its Ultimate Failure

 

Eunsong Lee
Korea University
English Language and Literature

 

 

We Real Cool

                                        Gwendolyn Brooks

THE POOL PLAYERS.

                   SEVEN AT THE GOLDEN SHOVEL.

 

We real cool. We

Left school. We

 

Lurk late. We

Strike straight. We

 

Sing sin. We

Thin gin. We

 

Jazz June. We

Die soon.

  Each line of Gwendolyn Brooks’ “We Real Cool” begins with a capital letter, indicating youthful boldness and at the same time a grasp of reality. The poem is not just an immature boast about rebelling against social norms and rules; to a certain level, the boys understand the ground they walk on. Words such as “lurk” and “sin,” words no doubt directed toward them by society in condemnation, they now take up to describe their own actions. On the one hand, this may be self-mockery and denunciation of their inexcusable “crimes.” But if the boys’ behavior is rebellious revelry rather than shame, the words’ mockery is directed not to themselves but to the authorities above them and the vocabulary of their moral code.

  But whether the boys are grimly accepting the standards of society’s condemnation, or whether they are taking a stab at this code of ethics, there is clearly uncertainty in their words and actions. The jerked ‘We—We—We—’ at the end of each line rhythmically breaks up their speech and gives it a “limp,” an ambiguity toward themselves. This ambiguity increases because of the empty space following each “We,” which seems to question the validity of the speakers’ identities and existence. It is almost as though after each assertion of Self, the boys continuously halt, wondering, questioning who they really are. This feeling dominates the entire poem.

  The collectiveness of “We,” however, implies an awareness of Self the boys do have in spite of their ambiguity. There are many possible other ways the words of the poem could have been arranged but were not; the lines could have been connected together as one long sentence listing the boys’ actions—but they are not. Instead, the poem is broken into short, three-worded sentences, each firmly nailed down by a period. In addition to creating rhythm and a tone of youthful energy, the short-cut sentences reflect the boys’ conscious desire to not dwell on the reality of their wrongful actions. Long sentences hold continued thoughts, which may come under introspection and undermine their self-esteem. By plugging down the sentences and cutting each thought before it has the chance to develop into something that may sting and shake them, weaken them, the defiant speakers fashion a layered armor of defense.

  But another important intention behind the wording seems to be to position the word “We,” capitalized, at the beginning of each sentence, therefore repeatedly emphasizing collectiveness. The reasons for this is obvious: the speakers are adolescents, and the prominent characteristic of adolescents is a powerful sense of collective identity, of being acting and thinking in a group entity. “We” is made all the more vital in their case because the dark life they have chosen, playing pool into the night and singing and drinking, is a path that rejects authority and morality. It is a refusal of society’s expectations and therefore a dangerous, unwarranted life. The boys need one another to share the ambiguity and fear; the “We” wards off, if at least momentarily, their uncertainty; their mutuality serves as an essential source of motivation and sustenance.

  Therefore “We” is a tool of both defense and retaliation. Not only have they rejected the existing authorities, they have found a new authority—themselves. Hence the word is capitalized, exalted at the head of each new thought. At the same time, the line break after each “We” makes it the last word as well as the first. To “have the last word” in a matter means to have the final say, to have the greatest authority. By asserting their collective identity at both the start and finish of each thought, surrounding each thought, the boys give their speech autonomy. It is speech unrestricted and unlimited by any “other.” The assertion of sovereignty could not be any stronger.

  Yet there is a weakness that is exposed by the undeniable presence of death at the poem’s finale. The short-cut lines, armed with autonomy, eventually come to an end with the words, “We / Die soon.”—with no “We” following them. The absence of “We” has impact enough to cancel out all that the previous sentences with their powerful capitalized pronouns tried to achieve. The reader’s eye, accustomed to seeing the “We” at the end of each line, is met now by a blank space, the emptiness, coldness, and loneliness of which are conveyed as visibly as if there had been an explanation. Death breaks the strength of “We.” No matter how strongly boys’ collective identity had rejected authority, here is one authority that it cannot conquer. They know this. The last two words in the final line—or rather, the absence of one word in the final line—carry this tragic realization. The authority the youths strove to attain is in the end revealed to be fundamentally flawed.

  The ultimate failure of “We” inevitably casts doubt on its initial validity and contributes to the general tone of ambivalence. “We” now becomes a fake thing; it is not true autonomy the boys have but merely a passive route of escape—safety in numbers. It is not really they who hold authority. What they have believed in thus far is unreal and insubstantial. In the light of such a revelation, then, one may also say the last “We” before the finality of death is of a nature different from the previous seven. There are seven boys playing pool at the Golden Shovel; seven times they assert their collective identity until death rends them apart. The last “We” no longer holds the active implications of a collective unity; it is merely a passive term indicating seven individuals, each separately facing his fate—for, the saying goes, “everyone dies alone.” In the face of mortality, the title’s declaration falls pitifully flat. Unfortunately for the boys, in the end, it is death that has the final word.