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love song of Satin-Legs Smith: Gwendolyn Brooks revisits Prufrock's hell, The
Papers on Language and Literature, Winter 2000 by Saunders, Judith P
These large contrasts are buttressed by many particulars, as Brooks carefully juxtaposes her protagonist to Eliot's. Clothing, for instance, gleans a relatively minor mention in Eliot's poem but functions as a central motif in Brooks's. Prufrock bemoans his appearance in order to convey his lack of self-trust, his obsession with the critical judgments of his social companions: those eyes that will "fix [him] in a formulated phrase" until he is "pinned and wriggling on the wall" (55-58). Sure that he is dressed impeccably ("my necktie rich and modest, but asserted by a simple pin"), Prufrock nevertheless believes the impression he makes is "almost ridiculous" (43, 118). He dwells on signs of his aging not only to emphasize the passing of time and his own inaction, but to suggest his unattractiveness to the opposite sex. Hence Brooks is able to employ Smith's obsession with fancy clothing and outward appearance to highlight vital differences between the two characters. Smith's self-esteem ("he looks into his mirror, loves himself') and his successful pursuit of women, traits that distinguish him definitively from Prufrock, are intimately connected with his outrageous wardrobe (64). The "wonder-suits in yellow, and in wine," the "ballooning pants" and "hysterical ties" are the source of his nickname and of his reputation as a lady's man: "Inamoratas, with an approbation, / Bestowed his title. Blessed his inclination" (48, 52, 54, 1-2). His "vault" of a closet contains his most precious possessions, fuels his Sunday well-being and sense of self-worth: "He is fat / And fine this morning" (45, 4-5).
In showing the reader "the innards" of Smith's extravagantly stocked clothing closet, Brooks alludes to the opening line of Eliot's poem with ironic effect (51). "Let us go then, you and L" Prufrock urges, inviting readers to enter the world of his loneliness and self-deprecating impotence (1). "Let us go," "let us go," he reiterates twice more in this first section of the poem (4, 12). Using nearly identical wording@"Let us proceed"-Brooks's narrating voice invites readers to join in examining Smith's wardrobe, source of the very real satisfactions he achieves despite circumscribed opportunities (43). Persistent regal imagery in the opening sections of the poem further highlights this difference between the two characters. Smith feels "royal" on Sundays: "he designs his reign," lives out the full significance of his "title" (4, 6, 2). For his part, Prufrock explicitly rejects any such notion: "I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be" (110). Closer by far, in terms of actual wealth and status, to royalty than Smith (whose "heritage of cabbage and pigtails" is explicitly noted), Prufrock nonetheless despairs of realizing qualities of eminence, authority, or initiative (27).
Eliot's cat imagery also makes a brief appearance in this section of Brooks's poem, reinforcing the contrasts in self-image between the two characters. Where Prufrock looks to the anesthetizing, comfortingly domesticated "yellow smoke... / Rubbing its back upon the window panes" to alleviate his anxieties (24-25), Smith finds solace in his own appearance and schemes: awakening, he "unwinds, elaborately: a cat / Tawny, reluctant, royal" (3-4). More like a lion than like Prufrock's tame housecat, he embarks upon his day with full confidence in his own physical and mental fitness to prevail in his environment. Thus Brooks transforms Eliot's metaphor: instead of signaling surrender to a deadening environment, the cat becomes an image of personal power and pride.
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