Comparing Carl Sandburg's Chicago And Where I M From

“They put a bullet in my head and say they found me that way” (Perdomo, 16/17). The attitudes and feelings the speakers in both “Chicago”, by Carl Sandburg, and “Where I’m From” by William Perdomo, are on one hand similar, but on the other, a stark contrast of each other. The poems set a tone that both hometowns are filled with great amounts of poverty and suffering. The narrator of “Chicago” feels proud about his city, displaying an attitude of pride, while the narrator of “Where I’m From” feels distaste for his hometown, in Puerto Rico, almost as if it’s a painful memory. Overall, both authors display similar feelings on some aspects of their hometowns, but contrasting outlooks on others.
Firstly, the authors of both poems share similar

For example, in “Chicago”, the narrator defends his hometown when people sneer at it, mock it, or give it a bad name. He retorts these people by stating “Come and show me another city with lifted head singing so proud to be alive…”, clarifying that he feels strongly for his city, and that he will stand up for it (Sandburg 18/19). In addition, he describes Chicago as cunning, husky and brawling. All these words mean the same thing; strong. Any person so impelled to describe their hometown like this, and stand up for it, is evidently proud of it. On the other hand, the speaker from Puerto Rico, feels very differently about his hometown. While describing it, he displays no sense of pride, or happy emotion. Instead he seems reluctant to do so, and describes only the negative dangers of his hometown, as if it’s a shameful memory. For example, his girlfriend “…always wanted to know where [he] was from” (Perdomo 2). This (the word always) makes the reader believe that she has asked him multiple times, and that he has declined, continually. Anyone reluctant to speak of their hometown, like this narrator, clearly does not have fond feelings for it. Overall, both speaker’s attitudes and feelings of their hometowns