We Real Cool is a poem about disobedience and the consequences of doing so. A group of seven teens standing outside a pool hall recite the poem. These kids present themselves as rebels who skip school, stay out late, and party hard. On the one hand, these pool players represent everyone who has ever played hooky—for all youngsters who defy authority and do things their own way. However, the poem also implies that such defiance has a cost: it renders these young people less safe. The price of living dangerously, according to the poem, is dying young.
The speakers in We Real Cool emphasize how their lives defy social expectations. They skip class and lurk till the wee hours of the morning. They engage into fights and imbibe alcohol. These people can hardly be viewed as role models or even positive examples of any group they belong to. However, the speakers are proud of their sins for most of the poem. They don’t feel guilty about being rebellious; instead, but “sing sin” instead (Brooks, 4-5). To put it another way, they applaud and enjoy their own actions.
The speakers themselves acknowledge that their defiance comes at a high price: they will burn as moths within a flame. The fact that this sentence appears at the end of the poem is significant. If it appeared at the start, it might imply that the speakers are reacting to the transient nature of existence, that they’re squeezing every last drop of pleasure from their time on this planet before it ultimately expires. The following might be open to interpretation, but the comment over an early death appears only after the narrative of the rebellion makes it more likely that this death is the result of the rebellion. To put it another way, spending life recklessly puts the speakers closer to death.
We Real Cool acknowledges the expenses of its speakers’ rebellious lifestyles on a regular basis. They may live glamorous, enjoyable lifestyles, but they are also putting themselves in risk as a result of their actions. The poem’s central question, then, is whether the sacrifices made by the speakers are worth it in the end. The struggle between the danger and the dream is one of the central themes of the work. The poem doesn’t directly resolve the dilemma, and it’s certainly feasible to view it as an indictment of the speakers. However, their acts of rebellion can also be viewed as a direct and essential challenge to authority and social complacency. This is especially relevant given the poem’s time period, with the events being set amidst the American Civil Rights Movement.
The poem does, however, give some indications that the speakers’ resistance isn’t completely worthless or in vain. Their insurgency is deliberate and concentrated. They defy emblems of authority and power, such as the ultimate institution, school. The pool players could be interpreted as symbols of the negative impacts of racism on black communities: without real opportunity to improve their lives, the speakers turn to petty crime. The poem presents a compelling but implicit case for social change through its speakers, who notably rebel against the power structures of a society that allows bigotry and discrimination to flourish. It is never quite clear if their act of defiance will ultimately be entirely worthwhile, but one can say with certainty that does not turn out to be pointless.
Work Cited
Brooks, Gwendolyn. We real cool. Detroit, Michigan: Broadside Press, 1966.