Who is "Chicago" (Blog #4)

The poem “Chicago” by Carl Sandburg is one that shows how much a group of people can be frowned upon yet they take pride in where they are from. The poem starts off with telling us what the city Chicago is known to by the world,” Hog Butcher of the World, Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat, Player with Railroads and the Nation’s Freight Handler.” Immediately after it is followed by how life is within the city’s business district for the most part, “Stormy, husky, brawling, City of the Big Shoulder.” The next stanza is portrayed as if he were listening to the argument of an “outsider” who sees what is wrong with Chicago. The presence of prostitutes luring in the farm boys, the gunmen who kill and are set free to kill again, and the women and children who are poor and starving. Sandburg seems as though he knows what they see on the outside and agrees that this is happening. Then he goes on to tell of how turns to those who “sneer” at his city and he does the same back. He asks to find another city that is so proud to be who they are. These people have gone through every type of adversity and still they keep their heads held high with pride, “laughing even as an ignorant fighter laughs who has never lost a battle.” These people, all people, are the city. They are proud to be just what the outside sees them as hog butcher, toolmakers, etc. These people have been through some rough times and all they have to be proud of is what they are . During this section of the poem it seems as though Sandburg has stood up to this critic and “gave him the what for,” as LTC Bauer puts it.