"The Mother” is a powerful poem about abortion and motherhood, written by Gwendolyn Brooks, the first African American to win a Pulitzer Prize (Gwendolyn Brooks Bio). The poem is marked by a simple language and realism, in which the author describes her unborn children with details and love. She unveils the role of women, almost as if she was giving them help, an advice or even a warning about abortion. Moreover, Brooks appeals to the emotional side and makes the situation dramatic, trying to bring the sense of guilt to a mother who has performed an abortion. It is a compelling anti-abortion poem, since Brooks picture an image of the children’s death along with the feelings, making the poem even more realistic. The conflict varies according
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They oppressed the society with the guilt of abortion along with the sin, in order to stop the act. In the same way, this had an impact in many women facing the challenge of an undesired pregnancy. Brooks shows regrets and suffering for all of the children she had to abort. Also, she demonstrates that she is very unstable and confused, indicating many internal conflicts. In the book "Literary Contexts in Poetry: Gwendolyn Brooks ' "The Mother,”" the critic Michael Schroeder states, "Her confused feelings are then illustrated through a series of "if" clauses that lead to a paradox”(Schroeder). In fact, the words ' choice of the speaker implies her distress, as Schroeder reinforces, "The word ‘killed ' indicates the powerful sense of guilt the speaker feels”(Schroeder). Brooks makes clear that the conflict will be always existent in the mothers’s head. They will always question their act, wondering how would be if they decided to have their babies …show more content…
As it is explained in the book "Our Bodies Ourselves For The New Century,” "All too often, they have resorted to dangerous, sometimes deadly methods, such as inserting knitting needles or coat hangers into the vagina and uterus, douching with dangerous solutions like lye, or swallowing strong drugs or chemicals” (Boston Women 's Health). The old methods performed by women trying to abort were very unsanitary and resulted in many deaths, due infections, and hemorrhage. Thousands of women were dyeing because of the tentative of
They oppressed the society with the guilt of abortion along with the sin, in order to stop the act. In the same way, this had an impact in many women facing the challenge of an undesired pregnancy. Brooks shows regrets and suffering for all of the children she had to abort. Also, she demonstrates that she is very unstable and confused, indicating many internal conflicts. In the book "Literary Contexts in Poetry: Gwendolyn Brooks ' "The Mother,”" the critic Michael Schroeder states, "Her confused feelings are then illustrated through a series of "if" clauses that lead to a paradox”(Schroeder). In fact, the words ' choice of the speaker implies her distress, as Schroeder reinforces, "The word ‘killed ' indicates the powerful sense of guilt the speaker feels”(Schroeder). Brooks makes clear that the conflict will be always existent in the mothers’s head. They will always question their act, wondering how would be if they decided to have their babies …show more content…
As it is explained in the book "Our Bodies Ourselves For The New Century,” "All too often, they have resorted to dangerous, sometimes deadly methods, such as inserting knitting needles or coat hangers into the vagina and uterus, douching with dangerous solutions like lye, or swallowing strong drugs or chemicals” (Boston Women 's Health). The old methods performed by women trying to abort were very unsanitary and resulted in many deaths, due infections, and hemorrhage. Thousands of women were dyeing because of the tentative of