Bronx Masquerade

Bronx Masquerade is a story about a group of high schoolers’ introduction to poetry, but it also serves as an introduction for its real-life high school readers. The book follows a strict pattern, beginning with a student giving information about their life, and what they are going through. This acts as an exposition, which segues into that person’s poem. The works themselves are rather simple since Nikki Grimes writes them as first-attempt works by high school students, but this background information makes them especially clear. For those new to poetry, like the intended high school audience, this can be incredibly helpful. All of the metaphors and ideas of the poem make a lot more sense because readers get a glimpse into the mind of the author. Each poem is concluded by one character, who ultimately falls short in his role: Tyrone. 

Tyrone acts as the analysis of the poems in Bronx Masquerade. For the first few, he seems to do his job well. After listening to Chankara’s poem about domestic abuse, remarking how “My pops used to hit my moms like that,” and how he “ain’t thought about that in years,” (17). He takes the words to heart and relates them to his own life experiences. Unfortunately, besides this one, Tyrone’s analysis consistently falls short. The majority of his remarks can be summarized simply with “Wow, I never thought of that before,” so much so that he often contradicts himself, like in his remarks about Leslie and Steve. After Leslie’s poem, he remarks that “that little white girl be getting pretty deep. I figured her for something lame,” (57). His preconceptions appear to be shattered, but when Steve, another white character, performs, he is equally surprised how “That white boy got more up his sleeve than anyone would guess,” (128). It makes sense that Tyrone would overcome preconceptions through the poetry of this class, but it gets to the point where he is consistently baffled by the same things repeatedly, often to a fault. 

Also, due to the rapidly changing narration of the novel, the audience never sees Tyrone do anything with his newfound realizations. There are no interactions between him and his fellow students where they connect after opening up about their emotions through poetry, or where he asks them questions about the less clear parts of the poem. He almost does this after several girls share their stories about struggling with body image he remarks how “Guy’s dont have that problem,” and asks “Would somebody clue me in?” but he is really just talking to himself, and makes no effort to learn more about this (64). 

Bronx Masquerade is an introduction to poetry, following the pattern of an introduction to the author, them presenting their poem, and then a failed analysis of that poem in the form of Tyrone. His consistent reactions fail to contribute any real meaning to the works, and he does not show any real growth from poem to poem.