31 pages • 1 hour read
Gwendolyn BrooksWe Real Cool
Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1960A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Symbols & Motifs
The Golden Shovel
The second line of “We Real Cool” sets the location of the poem at The Golden Shovel. This pool hall holds seven young men who speak the majority of the lines in the poem. The name, The Golden Shovel, holds significance because shovels are used for manual labor, including gravedigging. The golden quality of this shovel, in contrast, indicates great worth, importance, and aesthetic beauty. The darker implications of the shovel’s use resonate at the final sentence of the poem: “We / die soon” (Lines 9-10). The shovel evokes the approaching demise of the young men.
"We"
The word “we” recurs eight times in the poem. The repetition builds rhythm and rhyme, and emphasizes the collective identity of the young men speaking. This persona poem, unlike others, uses a first person plural perspective to convey the identity of the speakers. The young men speak as one, but their unity seems fragile as they progress, culminating in a prediction of their own death. When the reader takes a pause at the end of each line, each “we” hangs on a note of suspense, further indicating that the group may be vulnerable and dissolve at any moment.
Gin
The boys at the pool hall “thin gin” (Line 6), which is a two-word phrase that suggests they drink cheap alcohol. The gin the boys drink represents their desire to be adults, a desire that unites them with most adolescents as they transition from childhood to adulthood, as well as their adult realization that there are aspects of their lives that are challenging and that they would like to avoid or escape. The fact that the boys “thin” the alcohol implies that it must be diluted in order to be comestible; the cheapness of the gin means that it is likely unpleasant to drink, a fact that does not deter the boys from their adult means of escaping the difficulties they, and many adults in a general sense, face on a daily basis.
Related Titles
By Gwendolyn Brooks
