About Gwendolyn Brooks, Essay Example

Gwendolyn Brooks was a poet and activist born of African- American ancestry in Topeka, Kansas, and raised in Chicago, a predominantly black population suburb near the mostly white affluent neighborhood of Beverly Hills (Marsha 83). Gwendolyn was unapologetically proud of her roots thus used poetry to relay vital concerns that affected the people. She used a pen and a paper to fight racial and social discrimination, prejudice, equality, and immorality in the society of Chicago, where she gathered her inspiration from what she observed in the streets and the leafy suburbs. Gwendolyn’s poetic works mainly focus on political consciousness and civil rights activism (Marsha 86). Although Brooks’ literary works were inspirational and suggestive of disparities in the lives of the Black community, her work received a lot of criticism and backlash from critics. Critics aimed at bringing her down and shut her mouth about the equalities she was championing for and the social negativities that surrounded her. However, negativity did not withhold her from writing her works; instead, it motivated her to keep her head high. The paper seeks to analyze motivations towards Gwendolyn’s writings and expression of herself from the poems; “Chicago, Beverly Hills” and “Lovers of the poor.”

The poem “Lovers of the People” is Brooks’ literary work believed to have been written during her study of the local people in her hometown Bronzeville, Chicago. Itxplores the theme of social justice, the black population’s lifestyle and characters, and calls out on society to train citizens to live, act, and feel appropriate. For instance, as indicated by Brooks (L9 &10), the speakers feel that the ladies from the betterment league offer their support through charity to the black community not because they have passion for it but because they are just following what they were taught by their predecessors “Mothers.”

Firstly, the poem “The Lovers of the Poor” explores the division between the socially economically depressed black population and the upper-class white population. Brooks represents the socially economically depressed blacks contrasted with the company of stylish wealthy women of the ‘betterment league.’ Unlike Brooks, who does not find the conditions at the slums astonishing because she knew what was going down in the neighborhood, the women find the conditions flabbergasting. The women from the betterment league have never seen people living with such old, broken down surrounding; thus, they decide to mail some money maybe, so they don’t have to deal with the actual human beings in the building when they see a rat (Brooks L57-6 & 91).

The ladies come from the high society of Glencoe, Lake Forest, and visits the unprivileged black population in the slums to share and offer companionship in the name of charity (Brooks L4, 46 &1). The economic and social divide is evident from the conditions in the Slum described by the speaker, from the foul smell of urine, heavy smoke in the houses, bulky diapers, dead porridges of assorted dusty grains, use of newspaper rugs that are “tattered, bespattered and lack adequate lighting” in the homes (Brooks L33-37). The worst living conditions are incomparable to lavish lifestyles and the majestic houses the white good-doers live in (Brooks L31-37). Additionally, as Brooks (94) shows, the women’s lifestyles, including lovely skirts and hostess gowns, scented bodies, pink makeups, and fancy cars and their winter holiday vacations, create a total opposite of the lifestyle of the blacks dwelling in Branzoville.

Secondly, Brooks expresses a theme of misplaced charity in the poem. Although the ladies long to do good in society, the speakers think that their action shows that they do not enjoy the event; thus, they are eager to leave for their houses because they cannot withstand poverty in the slums (L30-35). Similarly, as Brooks (L20 &21) asserted, the speaker emphasizes that their guild is to only give the money to the poor, considering their perception of the Slum is simply a geographic area, not a human community. This made their intention even much doubtable whether it is sincere or not.

The theme expresses Brooks as an authentic and caring person with people’s concerns at heart. Brooks’ motives are sincere in doing well in the community. Unlike the white ladies who decide to escape the neighborhood, Brooks stays back despite the ugly charity proceedings and interacts with people regardless of the social, economic, and racial backgrounds. Brooks is encouraged to continue studying characters, lifestyles, and challenges that face all the population groups in Brazilliane. Her main motivational force is the sincerity in her course of bringing change in Chicago by ensuring people receive equal privileges, social entitlements such as education, access to medical care, and end of racial prejudice and discrimination (Marsha 107). Consequently, participating in the field of study provides Brooks with first-hand realities of the people’s lives outside and within the neighborhood.

Ostensibly, the poem “Beverly Hills, Chicago” depicts class and social competition between the speaker and the residents of Beverly Hills. The speaker is a passer-by from a low-income neighborhood who is lucky to drive by the affluent suburbs of Beverly Hills and witnesses the luxurious lives of the residents. The speaker describes the gardens as golden (Brooks Stanza1 L3) and exaggerates the patterns of leaves falling as lovelier (Brooks Stanza 2 L3). She furthers on to wonder what kind of food the people in such residences eat (Brooks Stanza 3 L3).

Additionally, Brooks deploys disparities in wealth in her writings. The speakers and her company count themselves lucky to have stepped into Beverly Hills and witnessed the beautiful gardens where the ripeness rots (stanza 2 L2). Similarly, the speaker imagines the tea taken by the residents as nothing like the cheap lemon tea they make in Chicago (Brooks Stanza3 L4). Lastly, the speaker uses hyperbole to sarcastically refer to how beautiful the corpse of the rich look amongst the expensive banquets of flowers (Brooks Stanza5 L4).

Arguably, Brookss greatest motivation is in her obligation to a certain democracy of morality and the realization that rich people may have problems and troubles that may be worse than those of the lower-class population despite the above disparities. The motivation enables her to confident pass by the areas of the privileged elites without feeling shame and recording the inequalities in a social and civil setting.

Although the speaker is jealous of Beverly Hills residents, the rights and the privileges they experience are compared to zero entitlements in her society. Brooks’ obligation to morality enables her to resists stereotypes of the rich, people of color, or any other group. Thus ironically uses the word ‘Nobody” to limit the use of any spiteful or inciting words against other people (Sharon 34). Additionally, regardless of the complicity in the wealth gap and privileges the rich hold, Brooks concludes that we are all humans. Thus, the rich do have emotions and might experience much pain when bereaved or faced with critical problems that are incomparable to those experienced by her society.

Succinctly, The Lovers of the Poor utilizes the concept of the rich helping the less fortunate narrative to grab the audience’s attention. Notably, her objective is to assert that charity should be sincerely manifested by deeds and from within the actor. Brooks highlights that with erroneous intentions, a charity can lead to more damage than good. The poem “Beverly Hills, Chicago” is not a revolutionary political poem; instead, it is more of a meditation on the subtle psychological effects of dramatic class inequalities. Both poems outline the social, economic, and civil injustices imposed on the black population and the whites’ privileges in the U.S.A. These black population challenges in the U.S.A. are reborn in different forms, such as the brutal killing of blacks by the law enforcers, racism, and femicide. Brooks’ writings have impacted revolutionary activism such as “Black Lives Matter” campaigns experienced today.

Works Cited

Brooks, Gwendolyn. “The Lovers of the Poor by Gwendolyn Brooks.” Poetry Foundation, Poetry Foundation, www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43317/the-lovers-of-the-poor.

Bryant, Marsha. “Uneasy Alliances: Gwendolyn Brooks, Ebony, and Whiteness.” Women’s Poetry and Popular Culture, 2011, pp. 83–119., DOI: 10.1057/9780230339637_4.

Flake, Sharon G. “To Black Women.” The Golden Shovel Anthology, 2019, pp. 191–191., doi:10.2307/j.ctvgs0cpc.6