Joyce Carol Oates- “Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks, 1942”
Journal Entry
Before reading Joyce Carol Oates poem, Edward Hooper’s Nighthawks, 1942, view the picture yourself and
write a descriptive journal responding not only to what you see but also to what you imagine is happening in the
picture. Your journal entry should be between 6 and 10 lines in length.
Questions on Meaning
1. What does Oates imagine about the couple in Nighthawks? How are the man’s and the woman’s thoughts
different?
2. Line 23 of the poem asks, “is this a dream?” Who is posing this question? What about the painting is
dreamlike?
3. Throughout the poem, Oates emphasizes the silence and stillness of the scene in the coffee shop- for
instance, “The angrier / she gets the stiller she is, hasn’t said a word / for the past ten minutes” (lines 45-47).
What meaning s about the paintings and the people in it might Oates be emphasizing?
Questions on Writing Strategy
1. Where in the poem does Oates use concrete language to describe what can actually be seen in ht painting, as
opposed to what she imagines? How does she use the former to support the latter? What does the mixture
suggest about Oates’s purpose?
2. The thoughts of the woman include some vivid sensory images. What are some examples? How do these
thoughts contrast with the man’s?
3. What techniques of sentence structure does Oates use in lines 12-19 and 30-45 to suggest the woman’s
rising anger?
4. Where does Oates use narration? Where does she imply a narrative? Why is narration important to her
analysis of Hopper’s painting?
Questions on Language
1. The man’s and woman’s thoughts are peppered with strong language that some might find offensive. What
does this suggest about the manner in which Oates ‘sees’ the characters?
2. In lines 27-28 Oates writes that the man is “feeling pretty good, / primarily relief.” How does the word
“relief” undercut the notion of “feeling pretty good”?