The Bean Eaters, by Gwendolyn Brooks

I really like the Bean Eaters Poem by Gwendolyn Brooks.

In the poem, Brooks tells the story of an old, poor couple who eat their dinner of beans off chipped plates. I especially like Heather Havrilesky’s (the well known Ask Polly writer) comparison on how she interpreted the poem back in 10th grade versus how she interprets the poem now.  She writes about her contrasting interpretations and understanding of the poem as a response to a letter she received by a reader that was concerned about a friend’s parents who recently lost a lot of money and were in somewhat of a financial crisis.

Havrilesky explains how years ago, on the first day of class in tenth grade, her English teacher had asked her to read the Bean Eaters Poem out loud to the class and then explain what she thought the poem was about.

The poem seems to be about an old and poor couple that kept getting dressed and straightening up and tinkering about their rented room.  As she read the poem in class, she thought that it sounded “pretty empty“.  “Their lives were basically over, but they were going through the motions.  All they had left were their memories that they remembered with “twinklings and twinges”, as they ate their beans in a room packed with beads receipts, dolls, cloths , vases and fringes.”.

These images reminded Havrilesky of her grandmother, who she explains, had closets full of yogurt lids and empty glass jars and old newspapers, all saved for some imaginary art project that would never happen.

Heather cleared her throat that day in 10th grade English class and said: “Well…the poem is about having no money and having no control over your life.  These poor people are surrounded by their own filth – chipped plates, tobacco crumbs and they are basically just waiting to die“.

Her English teacher screeched “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!”   “That is all wrong. You got it ALL WRONG”.  They are poor but they are happy! You think they have to be miserable because they are poor?! They have their memories! Twinklings and Twinges!

“Hmm. That went really well…” Heather humbly joked as she left class that day.

Years later, Heather reflected on the poem she read back in 10th grade English as she wrote a letter called “The Bean Eaters” to an individual looking for some advice regarding a friend, whose parents were faced with little to no money (due to job losses and the crumbling economy of their U.S city).  Her friend’s parents did not seem to bothered by losing all their money.  Her friend however was having a very hard time accepting his parent’s new reality and was so preoccupied with fixing their predicament.

In the letter, Heather makes reference to the “twinklings and twinges” from the poem.  She explains: “When I was young, I breezed right past that line, but there is joy in those words that I couldn’t detect.  And even once my teacher shouted at me, I still thought, “Oh, yeah? What’s so good about having your memories? What’s so good about being surrounded by beads and dolls, vases and fringes? That sounds horribly claustrophobic and depressing!“.

Havrilesky, writes in her Bean Eaters letter that she wrote years after:  “Part of the satisfaction of getting older, comes from feeling connected – deeply connected – to other people and to yourself”.

That summer Heather flew home to her mother’s house and instead of feeling annoyed by her mom, she reflected and looked inward. She noticed how organized her mom was and saw how she took walks or went to her exercise class every single day. She noticed the new watercolor of her dog that she’d painted and framed. “And then she made a great salad with stilton and pine nuts and some cold beet soup for dinner one night and she poured them glasses of wine and she told them about the birds she’d been seeing at the bird feeder outside her big window and they she played the kids some birdcalls from the special audio book she had”.

Heather explains how she had always assumed her mom was a little unhappy and maybe a little lonely. “She’s old, she lives alone, so why wouldn’t she be, right?”.  That night she realized she was wrong, that her mom was happy.

She concludes that:  “Sometimes life throws us curve balls and we get old, but you know what? Most of us just keep rolling along one way or another, difficult or not.  Sometimes, just like Gwendolyn Brooks wrote, you just have to keep getting dressed and straightening up, without questioning it“.

She ends her letter with:  “Let’s celebrate this moment together. There are twinklings and twinges, right here, in this moment. It is enough“.

Great ending I thought.  It also made me think of all the “twinklings and twinges” I used to see around my grandparents apartments.  Here is a picture I took of my grandmother Omi’s apartment the day after she died. I wanted to remember it just as she had it, “twinkling and twinges” and all.

 

Here is the poem:

The Bean Eaters

They eat beans mostly, this old yellow pair.

Dinner is a casual affair.

Plain chipware on a plain and creaking wood,

Tin flatware.

 

Two who are Mostly Good.

Two who have lived their day,

But keep on putting on their clothes

And putting things away.

 

And remembering . . .

Remembering, with twinklings and twinges,

As they lean over the beans in their rented back room that is full of beads and receipts and dolls and cloths,tobacco crumbs, vases and fringes.