Blog 11: Quote-Response Brooks

I love Gwendolyn Brooks's "We Real Cool." It's in the rhythm section of our textbook because it employs only single-syllable words. Those words capture the force and naive fearlessness of young people:

We real cool. We
Left school. We

Lurk late. We
Strike straight. We... (557)

In addition to the single syllables, the voice reminds me of the boys in "Greasy Lake" posing as tough kids. The avoidance of standard English suggests a rejection of authority in "We real cool." It's not "We're really cool." Skipping school or not graduating also bucks authority, as does staying up late, beyond bedtime or curfew. This rebelliousness here is connected to an accuracy of violence in "Strike straight." This might be a shot in pool or a punch delivered to an assailant. In either case, the young people are equipped by their rebellious lives to be effective. Of course, the end of the poem undermines their confidence.

I'm also interested in the use of "We," always at the beginnings of sentences and always at the ends of lines. This suggests a collective persona, as if the group members never do anything alone. This resembles the narration in "A Rose for Emily" where the town gossipped enough to share the same unhelpful opinions about Miss Emily. Here, it seems as if peer pressure creates this life of deadends for these young rebels. Because they work as a group, they can't think critically about their behavior, and they all, without regret on their part but sadly for the reader, careen toward death.