brooklyn cop

GCSE Religious Studies (Philosophy & Ethics)

20/09/2007 Rebecca Brierley

Brooklyn cop

By Norman McCaig

The poem “Brooklyn Cop” is written by Norman McCaig. In this poem he uses different techniques to give a vivid portrayal of cop in America.

This poem is set in Brooklyn, New York. New York is a very violent city, it has the hardest toughest policemen in the world. This describes the stereotypical American cop – big, tough, and thick, but the cop is human, with human hopes and fears. Everyday he risks being caught up in the local violence when the violence could turn nasty. Everyday he puts his life at risk, and this describes his desire to get back home to his wife.

At the start of the poem we start getting a vivid picture of the cop. “Built like a gorilla”, is a simile and it tells us that he is a medium sized man with a big build and has a lot of thick dark hair. He is different from a gorilla because he is not as shy. We know this when it says, “but less timid”. This gives me the impression that the cop is not one to sit back and stay out of things, he has to get involved. When it says, “thick fleshed,” this means that he is thick skinned and that he doesn’t care what other people think about him. When the writer says, “steak coloured”, this means that he is tanned or has a deep red face. The “hieroglyphs” in his face are two scars, I think this suggests that he has had a violent past or got involved in a stabbing, as he is a police officer. Overall, I think he is a devoted husband and all he wants out of his job is to know that the people of Brooklyn are safe. He is dedicated to his job and would be willing to jump into violence, But at the same time he wants to be safe to go home to his wife. “He walks the sidewalk and the thin tissue over violence” The poet describes the barrier between violence and civilisation as being as thin as tissue. This image tells us that a fight or violence could break out any minute and the cop would get caught up in it. The situation is very fragile.The different side we are given in sides 5-9 is a loving devoted husband. “This morning when he said, ’See you, babe’ ,to his wife, he hoped it, he truly hoped it.” He hoped he would see his wife because it is a violent city and he could be killed. Everyday he home comes home he is so pleased to see his wife. “Hiya honey”, is not a cliché when the cop uses it because every time the cop says this he really means it because he is so grateful to see his wife.

Verse two describes the things that the cop can expect to deal with when he is working would be Gang fights, shootings, and robberies, etc. We know this when it says, “what clubbings, what gunshots between Phoebe’s Whamburger and Louie’s Place.” When it says, “Should the tissue tear, should he plunge through into violence,” this means he is dedicated to his job and would be willing to jump into violence to stop it.

In the third verse the writer makes us feel sympathy for the cop because when it says “ Who would be him, gorilla with ...

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In the third verse the writer makes us feel sympathy for the cop because when it says “ Who would be him, gorilla with a nightstick, who’s home is a place he might, this time, never get back to?” I think this means, who would want to be this guy, a policeman with a truncheon and do a job where he might never get home again. It’s a shame he could die.

In a way it is like he is sacrificing himself to save other people knowing he could live or die on a daily basis.

In the last two lines of the poem the poet changes our sympathy away from the cop towards his “victims”. The victims are the people who are committing crimes. This means he is hard and scary. This suggests he could take things too far. The question raised by this poem is – should the police be allowed to use violence to stop violence? However, because he wants to get back to his home and his wife, he will shoot first and ask questions later: innocent victims may well end up getting killed. The poet asks whether we can expect anything else since our cops are human, not cartoon characters. This makes me fell a little bit different towards the cop because he should not use violence unless it is necessary, But in the other hand I think he might have to use violence because at the end of the day no one wants to be killed and let their family suffer all this man wants is to go home at the end of the day to see his wife.

This poem raises several issues about the problem of violence in society and how the police should be expected to deal with violent people and situations. It is ok for the police to use violence because they use it in a suitable way because they use it to stop violence. I think it is ok for the police to use violence in order to stop other violence because sometimes it doesn’t work when they use verbal negotiation. So if they use violence to solve their problems it might stop the other people from doing whatever it is that they are doing. But then again it is not good to use violence because some people take it too far and something bad could happen.

This poem raises several issues about the problem of violence in society and how the police should be expected to deal with violent people and situations. It is ok for the police to use violence because they use it in a suitable way because they use it to stop violence. I think it is ok for the police to use violence in order to stop other violence because sometimes it doesn’t work when they use verbal negotiation. So if they use violence to solve their problems it might prevent the criminals from doing there crime and also it would send a message to other criminals.

brooklyn cop

Brooklyn cop

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