Ignorance In We Real Cool By Gwendolyn Brooks

We often hear that ignorance is bliss, and that if we are unaware of what could go wrong or what is wrong, our lives would be happier and pure. Growing up I always learned that all actions have consequences whether they be positive or negative. This is an important lesson to learn as it makes us more aware of what we’re doing, and how what we do can affect us later in life. It allows us to make informed decisions and lead a healthy life knowing our actions have consequences. In Gwendolyn Brooks’ poem, “We Real Cool”, the idea of ignorance and how making bad life choices can have horrible consequences is explored through Brooks’ use of anaphora, caesuras, and metaphor.

Brooks utilizes anaphora in order to highlight how it’s a group of people committing these acts. The emphasis on the group allows her to show how people will follow groups because they don’t want to be left out. “We real cool. We/ Left school. We/ Lurk late. We/ Strike straight” (Brooks 3-6). The use of anaphora of the word, we, allows Brooks to emphasize the fact that it is a group committing these acts and not just one person. This can be viewed as the speaker simply following the group since they refer to the group as we to try and incorporate themselves, or that they are trying to make a statement that they did these things. Both ways emphasize the group feeling and draw attention towards the group acts and how they are ignorant of the

This allows the reader to see how important it is to know that this is a group, and they are sticking together. The pauses also make it seem as though the speaker is not fully sure what is going on. “We/ Strike straight. We/ Sing sin. We/ Thin gin” (Brooks 6-8). Throughout the poem the caesuras make it seem as though it’s normal for the Pool Players to do these things. The pauses also highlight what the pool players are doing to the reader. This emphasis allows the reader to understand what’s