We Real Cool by Gwendolyn Brooks - Essay Example

Rather they left school and spent their days playing while they sneak out late in the night for whatever activities they plan to, being bold in doing so. Night life is not far away from them and they are not ignorant about it rather is a part of their everyday life where alcohol is not absent and their song is about sin. Since life to them is doing things as they please and as they are pleased, sin is just around the corner and a frequent encounter is definitely not new but is a part of their everyday lives.

Jazz, with its etymology connotes sex in June which is also a part of the nightly activities that cause the teenagers to sneak out late in the night. Consequently, with such activities that are not healthy, a young person’s health is brought down and would end one’s life sooner than they should, have they taken care of them selves. Considering the two sides of a coin or the ‘door’ as Sarnowski mentioned in his article has been a heroic attempt in looking at both sides of a circumstance and illuminating the reader about what is more important in taking a look at the poem.

While it is true that people have different views in particular situations, though there could be some points where they can meet and try to understand each other’s side, taking into account the two different perspectives and interpretations of the poem could have been much more than what the poet intentionally made the poem for. Known as a keen observer and one who bases her poems from her daily observances, presenting facts through what is simply seen and not an interpretation of it (poemhunter.com), interpreting the poem for the dominant culture and the counterculture could have been an overstatement by Sarnowski although there have been truths to it.

His dominant culture’s idea of the poem being an encouraging voice to the young people doing the aforementioned activities is quite true as there have been protests to the publication of the poem saying that it is not helpful at all to the making of good citizens instead, encourages other people to sneak out at night, drink alcohol, have sexual relationships, and do other bad things because of the desire to be called cool. This group clamor for young people-friendly poems that would encourage them instead to stay in school and not otherwise.

On the other hand, the same critique mentioned the counterculture to desire their identity more than anything so that they would prefer being called cool than respectable because their definitions of the words are just simply different from those of the dominant culture. For them, being cool is respectable enough while to the dominant culture, it is a disgraceful choice. Some lines of the poem presents controversial interpretations to both groups like ‘we thin gin’ where the former says it speaks about alcohol abuse which presents an exalted status to the young people involved in such activities because despite them, they are considered cool.

On the other hand, the counterculture thinks it is just a presentation of the fact that drinking is not abused by all young people but is a matter of choice and it is chosen to be a part of enjoyment. ‘We jazz June’ is also a disturbing line because the dominant culture says, from how the word was once used, interpreted as having meaning related to sex among teenagers and June a feminine name, is seen to be a brutal act of not simply having sex but forcing it on females represented by June.

However, the writer met some problems in interpreting the last line in the line of thought of the counterculture because he cannot see the relation of things considered to