This reflection paper examines three works that together illuminate how language, dialect, and voice function in African American literature. The paper analyzes Gwendolyn Brooks' poem "We Real Cool" for its emotional power and use of vernacular, Zora Neale Hurston's short story "Sweat" for its portrayal of a resilient protagonist enduring domestic abuse, and Geneva Smitherman's nonfiction work Talkin and Testifying: The Language of Black America for its argument that dialect is linguistic difference rather than linguistic deficiency. Taken together, these works challenge the student-writer to reconsider received assumptions about "correct" English and to recognize that authentic voice is central to meaningful, emotionally resonant writing.
This paper demonstrates the technique of thematic synthesis in a reflection essay. Rather than treating each work in isolation, the student identifies a common argument — that marginalized voices gain power and dignity through the deliberate use of their own language — and uses each text as evidence for that argument. This elevates the paper from a simple summary-and-response format to a genuinely analytical reflection.
The paper opens with the poem "We Real Cool," using it to introduce the theme of vernacular voice. It then moves to Hurston's short story, deepening the theme with questions of representation and resilience. The nonfiction text by Smitherman follows, providing theoretical grounding for what the literary examples illustrate. A brief conclusion ties all three together under the claim that emotional impact is the highest goal of writing. This three-text progression — poem, fiction, nonfiction — gives the paper a natural escalation from feeling to analysis.
Three works encountered this semester — a poem, a short story, and a work of nonfiction — share a common and powerful thread: each uses language, dialect, and voice to confer dignity upon people who are often ignored or misrepresented. Gwendolyn Brooks' "We Real Cool", Zora Neale Hurston's "Sweat," and Geneva Smitherman's Talkin and Testifying: The Language of Black America each challenge assumptions about what counts as legitimate literary language. Together, they reshaped the way I think about writing, reading, and the relationship between language and power.
One poem that has had a great impact upon me is Gwendolyn Brooks' 1963 poem "We Real Cool." The poem is so memorable because it is written in ordinary language and packs a tremendous emotional punch at the end, despite being only a few lines long. "We real cool. We / Left school. We / Lurk late" (lines 1–3). I loved the ways in which Brooks used ordinary English, even though some of the slang sounded old-fashioned to my ear. She uses these rhetorical techniques to give voice — in the language of young people — to a collective generation who would, in the words of the poem's final chilling lines, "die soon" (line 8).
The poem is articulate, yet gives a voice to people who might be regarded by outsiders as inarticulate. The self-awareness of the characters — that young death was always on the horizon, even as they were having fun drinking and enjoying music — underlines the possibility of using language to express a deeper truth than might be evident on the surface of their actions. It reminded me of how people often look at the younger generation, assuming they do not care when they are having fun. Often that fun is very desperate. I believe this is also true of my own generation. All of this is conveyed through a sophisticated and nuanced use of language, without stating this fact directly in a heavy-handed or straightforward way.
A short story I genuinely enjoyed was Zora Neale Hurston's "Sweat." It is a moving story about an abused washerwoman and, like Brooks' poem, it gives voice and great dignity to a Black, working-class character who might otherwise be ignored or misunderstood. Hurston's story deals with domestic violence — a topic that remains urgently relevant today. People often question why abused women stay with their attackers. The story shows how the protagonist uses her faith to sustain her through seemingly unconquerable suffering, and ultimately she emerges victorious through what appears to be supernatural intervention.
Even before that moment of justice — delivered in the terrifying form of a snake — the protagonist's inner strength is already apparent: "Delia's habitual meekness seemed to slip from her shoulders like a blown scarf. She was on her feet; her poor little body, her bare knuckly hands bravely defying the strapping hulk before her" (Hurston). Like Brooks' poem, this story uses the language and dialect the characters would actually speak in real life, giving them a voice and a sense of dignity and worthiness of representation in fiction. Reading the story makes the reader feel as though he or she is living it alongside the characters, cheering on the protagonist. There is nothing pretentious or literary about it, despite the richly symbolic final image of the snake.
All of these different examples of writing highlight that ultimately the most important aspect of good writing is to convey meaning and to have an emotional impact on the reader. Sometimes, as in the case of poetry, that impact is conveyed through imagery, rhythm, metaphor, and implied meaning. At other times, creating a fictional story — even one with fantastical elements — can have the greatest impact, as in the case of Hurston's "Sweat." Finally, nonfiction works like Smitherman's can enable a reader to become a more informed consumer of language and, ultimately, a better writer.
Brooks, Gwendolyn. "We Real Cool." Poetry Foundation. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/28112/we-real-cool
Hurston, Zora Neale. "Sweat." Biblioklept. 21 March 2013. https://biblioklept.org/2013/01/21/sweat-zora-neale-hurston/
Smitherman, Geneva. Talkin and Testifying: The Language of Black America. Wayne State University Press, 1986.
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