Carrie Ortel Journal #2

Immediately, after hearing the title of the poem, “We Real Cool”, I thought it would be about society and relationships between the characters.  This was a fairly good assumption, but after hearing Gwendolyn Brooks full poem I became aware it was about much more.  The story is about seven boys skipping school to play pool, but Brooks reaches deeper than that.  She writes to make the reader ask themselves why people need the appearance of “being cool”. 

The beginning of the poem repeats the title, emphasizing how important it is to the boys in the poem to be considered cool.  As the story continues, the image of the characters in my head grew from young boys to older men.  When Brooks says they skip school, I was imagining middle school students, but when she continues to describe the boys “lurk(ing) late” and “thin(ing) gin”, the image of innocent boys grew to reckless young men in my head.  Ending the poem with “die soon” continued to age my image of the characters.  The ending lead me to imagine old men lying on their death beds full of regret and pain, the farthest thing from young innocence. 

Reflecting back on the poem, the line “we sing sin” then became clear.  These seven boys lived their lives in a way that was “cool” based on society’s standards.  Brook makes it clear that society’s image of “cool” is only a temporary pleasure.  Although it might be fun at the time, when the men look back at their lives, all they see is regret.  The importance of this poem exists because it makes the reader reflect on their own personal life.  She makes it clear that society’s image of you does not matter, it is your own personal image of yourself that defines who you are.