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The Inner Workings of the Black Man

            In the two poems "Negro Hero" and "The Sundays of Satin-Leg Smith" written by Gwendolyn Brooks, we enter into the minds of two black men. Their lifestyles, and histories. Through these descriptions, Brooks unveils what type of people the characters really are. We also come to find out what type of society the main character has been placed in. In each situation, Brooks identifies that each man has a struggle within him self. Brooks develops struggles for each character which doesn't exactly build from the outside but mainly from within. Each man that we are introduced to is dealing with the workings of his own inner devil.
             In "The Sundays of Satin-Legs Smith," Satin is a ladies man. His mission is to get the girl. The scenario in the beginning does not appear to be suspicious at all but as we begin to read deeper, we find another story. Brooks is unraveling to let us know what type of person that the main character really is. The man that is introduced to the world is not the man that he actually is. He gives this fantasy that he is who he is on the outside but on the inside he is hiding behind this image he has built for himself and to impress women. He never thinks twice about this image that he has built for himself and maybe has lived it so long that it feels like reality. In the poem, the accurate world has a chance to appear and we find out the soul of the real character. .
             The man that chases the lady for sport has another man inside. The same guy that wears the fancy flower is the same man that has never really seen a flower of quality. He is the man that "if he should think of flowers it is in terms of dandelions or death" (Brooks 37-38). He has not come from a background where everything was given to him on a silver platter. We come to learn that this man has found his comfort zone within the identity of another man that he thinks is influenced only by himself but as the poem develops we understand that everything is influenced by his past "The pasts of his ancestors lean against Him.


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