“Bean Eaters” is an interesting poem as it seems like nothing is happening. Well not much is, the audience sees an elderly couple sitting in their kitchen eating beans; thats it. The way Gwendolyn Brooks describes them is what gives this poem the feeling it evokes upon its readers. Brooks notes that they have lived their day. They are no longer the young couple they were, full of life and joy. The meaning in life has dwindled down to nothing, yet they continue to live. Brooks is showing this couple’s life through a distant scope. The couple is isolated not only from everyday joys of life, but also the audience. Brooks says that although they have nothing left to live for, they continue to get up, get dressed, motion through the day, and go to sleep. This elderly couple is lost in a sea of nothing, unable to find the meaning of their continuation of life.

The reason this is isolation and not alienation is because although they used to know the thrills of being younger, not only are they now not part of the group, they have no possible way to go back to the way things were. There is no hope for them to find a meaning anymore.