We Real Cool Analysis Mob mentality, also known as herd mentality is how people are influenced by their peers to adopt certain behaviors. In reality, people in the group developed one lifestyle, one purpose, and one mind. This mentality is slightly shown in something as innocent as school cliques. But often, this mob mentality can have negative consequences. Gwendolyn Brooks’ We Real Cool is a cautionary tale of 7 pool players living fast and dying young together. The poem uses symbolism, diction, and sound devices such as alliteration, rhythm, and repetition to emphasize the theme of identity and mortality. Brooks’ use of repetition and alliteration shines light on themes such as death and identity. The word “we” is used …show more content…
“We Left School” paints the picture of the boys neglecting their education as teenagers leading them down the wrong path and inevitably to death. “We Die Soon” is a break from the poem’s flow. The phrase overall shows mortality and at the result of the actions said previous to this line. The diction of these phrases are short and simple words. It is slang that is grammatically incorrect showing that the teenagers neglected their education, contributing to their image of being rebellious. Additionally, Brooks uses “We” rather than “They” for the purpose of the reader to see their sense of unity. Spondee is also present all through the poem. Every syllable is stressed meaning that each word said is important. It is a mantra that the 7 pool players are adamant about me are all in agreement on. This adds on to the theme of being one collective, sharing one purpose. Brooks also ties together rhythm and diction like rap music to relate to the reader and the youth in the poem. “We” acts as the grace note in the poem. Symbolism contributes to many aspects of We Real Cool. The subtitle “The Pool Players. Seven at the Golden Shovel” differs from the 4 stanza couplets in the rest of the poem. “The Pool Players” are the only non symbolic phrase in the subtitle. The subjects are actual pool players. “Seven” is the number of boys but also is a number known for being lucky like in gambling or seven deadly sins. “The Golden Shovel” is the name of the pool hall they go to but
One of the major causes individuals get caught up in mob mentality is because people feel pressured to execute the corrupt actions in order to be accepted in society. Mob mentality can trigger certain emotions to participate in terrible public events in which causes harm to others. In the 1920’s, a horrible incident occurred in Duluth Minnesota which will always be remembered in history.
Mob Mentality is strange behavior that is displayed when people are in a large group (Smith). People take part in these mobs because, when a group of people are emotional and angry about something, it takes very little for the crowd to break out in violence (Edmonds). In To Kill a Mockingbird mob mentality is apparent in the book. An example of mob mentality is, typically others will follow the initial rioter’s lead (Edmonds). This is shown in To Kill a Mockingbird when Scout guilts the mob into leaving and Mr. Cunningham tells the rest of the mob lets go and they follow right after him (Lee 206). Along with the Jim Crow laws and mob mentality another influence in To Kill a Mockingbird was the Scottsboro
The different groups of people within the poem represent the different stages of life. At the beginning of the poem it talks about a young boy and his dog and swimmers. Several lines down it talks about “young lovers” and then families.
The poem “We Real Cool” is a very powerful poem, although expressed with very few words. To me, this poem describes the bottom line of the well known “ghetto life”. It describes the desperate and what they need, other than the usual what they want, money. Without actually telling us all about the seven young men, it does tell us about them. The poem tells of the men’s fears, their ambitions, and who they think they are, versus who they really are.
Mob mentality can occur in any society. It can take place at any time, any day or any night. Mob mentality does not have a direct target. It will take over anyone, leaving them with no control over themselves. Mob mentality proves that under critical situations people will be selfish and follow others’ leads; however, the leads people usually follow are not the ones best for them. Due to large amounts of stress everyone carries, people do not think as clearly as they normally would. Those horrible leads that people choose to follow will eventually cause groups to become out of control. Violence usually ensues when within
Peer pressure can take place whenever people gather and spend frequent time together. Most people are subject to its effects and often experience it because of shared experiences or they share the same perspective on life. This becomes dangerous when a group has enough influence to dictate an individual’s way of thinking or behavior. When an individual is desperate to find a place to belong, they will follow the crowd even if they know that they are participating in something immoral; this is demonstrated in “We Real Cool.”
The diversity of Brooks’s poetry leaves a reader who first encounters her work to draw, as Bolton argues in Gwendolyn Brooks and the Epic Tradition, “overly hasty conclusions about the natures of her subject and verse form” (56). Brooks’s mastery is found in her extended lyric voice characterized in her various poems. From colloquial language in “We Real Cool” to her tense and complex style in the “Anniad”, Brooks’s audience is just as diverse as her anthology. Hovarth identifies the significance of form in relationship to her
"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.
Thomas Fuller once said, “The mob has many heads, but no brains.” In this day in age, mob mentality is seen as having a negative influence on society. Specific behaviors can be triggered by the influence of our peers around us, some of which can cause people to take perilous actions that can have a significant impact on humanity.
“We real cool” penned by Gwendolyn Brooks is an excellent creation that describes the nature of youths in their young life. The poem is written in a very simple manner, which gives us a clear picture of the youth’s considering themselves as a real cool and involving in a fun as well as risky activities. The poem is the perfect example of what can be accomplished in a very short space with a simple everyday language using only few well-placed words. The simplicity of the language gives us the feeling that it is a real time creation of an author when she was having fun with friends, drinking gin, staying out late at night, enjoying jazz and so on. Also the simplicity of language points the fun, excitement, and carefree moments with no burden
The brisk air fills the lungs of the students who shout, cheer, and sing in the bleachers of the sports stadium. One student starts the chant, as others follow, the next chanting louder than the first. It’s unlikely that these students would be yelling and singing the way they do if they were the only person doing it. This is mob mentality. The person starting this trend has a threshold of zero, because they didn’t need anyone to do it before they did, whoever is next has a threshold of one and the next, two and so on. Mob mentality is how people are influenced by their peers to adopt certain behaviors and a threshold is how many people it takes for this influence to be adapted by their peers. Mob mentality can be seen in many ways in The Crucible and at Blue Valley West. Groups spreading the pressures of things like bullying, accusations, and clothing in order to fit in are all great examples of mob mentality.
As the poem goes on it gets deeper with meaning, sadder even. Lines four and five are the most crucial lines of the poem. Line three ends with the head giving the heart advice. “You will lose the ones you love. They will all go,” this isn’t the first thing someone wants to hear, especially not someone who is aware that they have just lost someone they love. But this is classic, logical advice that your emotions need to hear. What it means is that one day everyone you love will be gone, it is the sad truth of the world we live in. Nothing is forever. “But even the earth will go,
The other section where symbolism is evident is “Small Porch in the Woods.” It is divided into several poems. In the first one, there is the mention of “unshifting star” which represents a change that is undisturbed. It is the turning point of the society. Despite the challenges communities face in their life, their ambition leads them towards achieving their objectives in life. The second poem under this section is about a heavy rain that fell in the month of April. Heavy rain is the representation of unhappy moments. The description presented by the narrator shows that it is a sad moment where everything is carried away. Throughout the poem, the rain is seen, as a lesson
The power of the poet is not only to convey an everyday scene into a literary portrait of words, but also to interweave this scene into an underlying theme. The only tool the poet has to wield is the word. Through a careful placement and selection of words, the poet can hopefully make his point clear, but not blatantly obvious. Common themes of poems are life, death, or the conflicting forces thereto. This theme could never possibly be overused because of the endless and limitless ways of portraying life or death through the use of different words.
Furthermore, the last two stanzas are more personal in the sense of how the narrator speaks. The word “we” is used many times in these last two stanzas, more than the first three. In all five of the stanzas, the word “we” was used as the authors way of