Chicago
By Carl Sandburg
HOG Butcher for the World,
Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat,
Player with Railroads and the Nation’s Freight Handler;
Stormy, husky, brawling,
City of the Big Shoulders:
5
They tell me you are wicked and I believe them, for I have seen your painted women under the gas lamps luring the farm boys.
And they tell me you are crooked and I answer: Yes, it is true I have seen the gunman kill and go free to kill again.
And they tell me you are brutal and my reply is: On the faces of women and children I have seen the marks of wanton hunger.
And having answered so I turn once more to those who sneer at this my city, and I give them back the sneer and say to them:
Come and show me another city with lifted head singing so proud to be alive and coarse and strong and cunning.
10
Flinging magnetic curses amid the toil of piling job on job, here is a tall bold slugger set vivid against the little soft cities;
Fierce as a dog with tongue lapping for action, cunning as a savage pitted against the wilderness,
Bareheaded,
Shoveling,
Wrecking,
15
Planning,
Building, breaking, rebuilding,
Under the smoke, dust all over his mouth, laughing with white teeth,
Under the terrible burden of destiny laughing as a young man laughs,
Laughing even as an ignorant fighter laughs who has never lost a battle,
20
Bragging and laughing that under his wrist is the pulse. and under his ribs the heart of the people,
Laughing!
Laughing the stormy, husky, brawling laughter of Youth, half-naked, sweating, proud to be Hog Butcher, Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat, Player with Railroads and Freight Handler to the Nation.
Meghan Hashemi
Carl Sandburg wrote the poem, “Chicago” depicting the hard-working people of Chicago and in his poem Sandburg personifies the city of being made up of the various qualities and having the characteristics of these hard-working people who build up the city each day by their labor of love. Sandburg shows his reader through imagery in the final line of the poem, “Laughing the stormy, husky, brawling laughter of Youth, half-naked, sweating, and proud to be Hog Butcher, Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat, Player with Railroads and Freight Handler to the nation”. It is clear that Sandburg celebrates the common, often over-looked labor of the working class of Chicago. Sandburg goes one step further to recognize the importance of the work he describes by emphasizing the critical nature of every day work in the final line of his poem, “…to the nation”. Sandburg mentions this shows how one man’s work and the combination of one man and his peers makes a difference to the entire nation.
Similarly, Kathryn Stockett exemplifies the importance of Aibileen, nanny to Mae Mobley, especially in the chapter when Aibileen is fired from her nanny job and she shows how much she cares for Mae Mobley, “And I swear I see, down inside, the woman she gone grow up to be. A flash from the future. She is tall and straight. She is proud. She got a better haircut. And she is remembering the words I put in her head. Remembering as a full-grown woman. And then she say it, just like I need her to. ‘You is kind,’ she say, ‘you is smart. You is important’ ” (521).
Aibileen toils at a job caring for children, yet her ultimate contribution is considered to be much greater in the long run of a child and a nation, as the results also impact a nation.
Both Sandburg’s poem and Stockett’s novel show by the imagery how important common work and everyday workers have a greater impact than generally believed by society. Both authors leave their readers wondering what exactly is the work of a job when deeper consideration is given to the future of a nation.
By Carl Sandburg
HOG Butcher for the World,
Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat,
Player with Railroads and the Nation’s Freight Handler;
Stormy, husky, brawling,
City of the Big Shoulders:
5
They tell me you are wicked and I believe them, for I have seen your painted women under the gas lamps luring the farm boys.
And they tell me you are crooked and I answer: Yes, it is true I have seen the gunman kill and go free to kill again.
And they tell me you are brutal and my reply is: On the faces of women and children I have seen the marks of wanton hunger.
And having answered so I turn once more to those who sneer at this my city, and I give them back the sneer and say to them:
Come and show me another city with lifted head singing so proud to be alive and coarse and strong and cunning.
10
Flinging magnetic curses amid the toil of piling job on job, here is a tall bold slugger set vivid against the little soft cities;
Fierce as a dog with tongue lapping for action, cunning as a savage pitted against the wilderness,
Bareheaded,
Shoveling,
Wrecking,
15
Planning,
Building, breaking, rebuilding,
Under the smoke, dust all over his mouth, laughing with white teeth,
Under the terrible burden of destiny laughing as a young man laughs,
Laughing even as an ignorant fighter laughs who has never lost a battle,
20
Bragging and laughing that under his wrist is the pulse. and under his ribs the heart of the people,
Laughing!
Laughing the stormy, husky, brawling laughter of Youth, half-naked, sweating, proud to be Hog Butcher, Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat, Player with Railroads and Freight Handler to the Nation.
Meghan Hashemi
Carl Sandburg wrote the poem, “Chicago” depicting the hard-working people of Chicago and in his poem Sandburg personifies the city of being made up of the various qualities and having the characteristics of these hard-working people who build up the city each day by their labor of love. Sandburg shows his reader through imagery in the final line of the poem, “Laughing the stormy, husky, brawling laughter of Youth, half-naked, sweating, and proud to be Hog Butcher, Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat, Player with Railroads and Freight Handler to the nation”. It is clear that Sandburg celebrates the common, often over-looked labor of the working class of Chicago. Sandburg goes one step further to recognize the importance of the work he describes by emphasizing the critical nature of every day work in the final line of his poem, “…to the nation”. Sandburg mentions this shows how one man’s work and the combination of one man and his peers makes a difference to the entire nation.
Similarly, Kathryn Stockett exemplifies the importance of Aibileen, nanny to Mae Mobley, especially in the chapter when Aibileen is fired from her nanny job and she shows how much she cares for Mae Mobley, “And I swear I see, down inside, the woman she gone grow up to be. A flash from the future. She is tall and straight. She is proud. She got a better haircut. And she is remembering the words I put in her head. Remembering as a full-grown woman. And then she say it, just like I need her to. ‘You is kind,’ she say, ‘you is smart. You is important’ ” (521).
Aibileen toils at a job caring for children, yet her ultimate contribution is considered to be much greater in the long run of a child and a nation, as the results also impact a nation.
Both Sandburg’s poem and Stockett’s novel show by the imagery how important common work and everyday workers have a greater impact than generally believed by society. Both authors leave their readers wondering what exactly is the work of a job when deeper consideration is given to the future of a nation.