Topic Proposal, Thesis Statement

1. “Swamp Dog” by Kwame Dawes.
2. The poem “Swamp Dog” seems to be narrated by young African American females. The girls are speaking of how all of the boys eye up the white girls and find them so attractive and find interest in the white girls instead of them. The boys never look at them the way they look at the white girls because the African American girls are always hard at work, just trying to get by. The young white girls do whatever they please and always are prim, proper and beautiful. The African American girls are always hard at work, never caring how they look. They work hard for what they have and are NOT prim and proper like the white girls. In the poem it says, “to simple girls like us, who won’t jitterbug, don’t ride no horse; just work till our fingers are white, stumbling homeward, weary at night.” This is showing how the African American girls seem to be more ‘rough around the edges,’ and are very hard-working. These girls have dreams just like anyone else in the world, and they aren’t going to let any boys hold them back, or even rely on them to pursue their dreams. They are strong and are determined to someday get what they want. They let the boys do as they please, for one day they believe they will be the ones wanting them.
3. Lines 5-10.
4. The lines I chose have some very important passages and meaning behind it. The girls seem to be bitter in these passages, mad at the white girls for getting all of the attention. Saying, “never look at us that way, never got sweet words to say.” There also seems to be a confident tone in the passage in the lines describing how hard they work, “just work till our fingers are white.” On the other hand, while at one point seeming confident, the narrator seems to be self conscious in saying things like “to simple colored girls like us,” meaning there is nothing special about the colored girls, they never get a second look.
5. There is quite a bit of rhyming in this poem. Using words such as candies and pandies, white and night to describe and get a vivid image of the point the narrator is trying to get across.
6. The things I talked about in 4 and 5 relate to everything mentioned about the main point of this poem. The way the narrator says the things she does and the tones she uses all come back to the point of how the narrator feels inferior to the white girls. Yet at the same time, she feels she will someday overcome all of these girls by working hard to get what she deserves.

Thesis Statement: Kwame Dawes has an interesting way in getting his point across in his poem “Swamp Dog.” In a bitter, yet powerful tone coming from young African American women, a sense of confidence and uneasiness comes across from the narrator. The way Kwame Dawes tells the story of these girls allows the reader to fully understand the point being made through descriptive words and a thoughtful tone. It also helps the reader to fully get a grasp on the underlying theme of the poem, which is confidence and hard work can get anyone anywhere in life.