"kitchenette building" was published in Pulitzer-Prize winning poet Gwendolyn Brooks's first collection, A Street in Bronzeville (1945). The poem is about the experience of Black Americans in Chicago in the 1940s, when racial discrimination forced many impoverished families into cramped and unsanitary housing units known as kitchenettes. Rooted in this historical context, "kitchenette building" presents a conflict between the hope of escaping poverty and the exhausting demands on day-to-day life that such poverty creates. Ultimately, the poem suggests that dreams for a better life simply can't survive in the conditions of the kitchenette building, which, in turn, create a perhaps inescapable cycle of poverty. Brooks vividly captures the ways dreams die under the monotonous and smothering conditions imposed by structural racism.

• Read the full text of “Kitchenette Building”

• “Kitchenette Building” Summary

• “Kitchenette Building” Themes

  • 

    Dreams vs. Reality

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 2-3
    • Lines 4-10
    • Lines 11-12
    • Line 13
  • 

    The Cycle and Dehumanization of Poverty

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-13

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Kitchenette Building”

  • Lines 1-2

    We are things ...
    ... in, and gray.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 2-3

    “Dream” makes a ...
    ... “satisfying a man.”

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 4-6

    But could a ...
    ... in the hall,

    

    

    

    

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  • Line 7

    Flutter, or sing an aria down these rooms

    

    

    

    

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  • Line 8

    Even if we ... let it in,

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 9-10

    Had time to ...
    ... let it begin?

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 11-13

    We wonder. But ...
    ... get in it.

    

    

    

    

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• “Kitchenette Building” Symbols

  • 

    The Kitchenette Building

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Lines 4-7: “But could a dream send up through onion fumes / Its white and violet, fight with fried potatoes / And yesterday’s garbage ripening in the hall, / Flutter, or sing an aria down these rooms”
    • Lines 12-13: “Since Number Five is out of the bathroom now, / We think of lukewarm water, hope to get in it.”
  • 

    Onion, Potato, and Garbage Fumes

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Line 4: “onion fumes”
    • Line 5: “fried potatoes”
    • Line 6: “yesterday’s garbage ripening in the hall”

• “Kitchenette Building” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

  • Alliteration

    

    

    

    

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    Where alliteration appears in the poem:

    • Line 2: “Grayed,” “gray,” “giddy”
    • Line 4: “fumes”
    • Line 5: “fight,” “fried”
    • Line 7: “Flutter”
    • Line 8: “we were willing”
    • Line 11: “We wonder.,” “well”
    • Line 13: “We,” “water”

  • Metonymy

    

    

    

    

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    Where metonymy appears in the poem:

    • Line 12: “Number Five is out of the bathroom now”

  • Imagery

    

    

    

    

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    Where imagery appears in the poem:

    • Lines 4-6: “But could a dream send up through onion fumes / Its white and violet, fight with fried potatoes / And yesterday’s garbage ripening in the hall,”

  • Personification

    

    

    

    

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    Where personification appears in the poem:

    • Lines 5-7: “fight with fried potatoes / And yesterday’s garbage ripening in the hall, / Flutter, or sing an aria down these rooms”
    • Lines 9-10: “Had time to warm it, keep it very clean, / Anticipate a message, let it begin?”

  • Juxtaposition

    

    

    

    

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    Where juxtaposition appears in the poem:

    • Lines 2-3: “Grayed in, and gray. “Dream” makes a giddy sound, not strong / Like “rent,” “feeding a wife,” “satisfying a man.””
    • Lines 4-7: “But could a dream send up through onion fumes / Its white and violet, fight with fried potatoes / And yesterday’s garbage ripening in the hall, / Flutter, or sing an aria down these rooms”

  • Assonance

    

    

    

    

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    Where assonance appears in the poem:

    • Line 4: “through,” “fumes”
    • Line 5: “white,” “violet,” “fight,” “fried”
    • Line 6: “ripening”
    • Line 8: “it in”
    • Line 9: “keep,” “clean”

• “Kitchenette Building” Vocabulary

  Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

  • Giddy
  • Aria
  • Anticipate
  • Number Five
  • Lukewarm
  • (Location in poem: Line 2: ““Dream” makes a giddy sound”)

• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Kitchenette Building”

  • Form

  • Meter

  • Rhyme Scheme

• “Kitchenette Building” Speaker

• “Kitchenette Building” Setting

• Literary and Historical Context of “Kitchenette Building”

• More “Kitchenette Building” Resources

  • External Resources

    • Brooks Reads the Poem — Hear Gwendolyn Brooks read "kitchenette building" in this recording from the Poetry Foundation. 

    • An Essay on the Poem — An essay by poet Hannah Brooks-Motl on "kitchenette building."

    • An Interview with Brooks — A 1997 interview with Gwendolyn Brooks, hosted by the Lincoln Academy of Illinois. Brooks talks about her literary inspirations and her work. 

    • Gwendolyn Brooks Archive — Explore the Poetry Archive's host of resources on Gwendolyn Brooks, including a brief biography and several recordings of her reading her poems. 

    • Black Life in Chicago — Learn more about the history of the Black Chicago neighborhoods this poem is set in through this online collection from the Chicago Public Library.

  • LitCharts on Other Poems by Gwendolyn Brooks

    • Sadie and Maud

    • The Bean Eaters

    • We Real Cool

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