by Jennifer Katherine Jones

Created on: April 16, 2008   Last Updated: September 02, 2009

Gwendolyn Brooks, "The Mother"

Gwendolyn Brooks wrote the poem "The Mother" in 1945. This poem is found on page 433 in the Introduction to Poetry textbook. This powerful poem about aborting a child has created much debate in our world. Both pro-life and pro-choice groups have used this poem to reflect how such a choice can affect a mother. Gwendolyn Brooks really made this literature puzzling, it takes a few times to read and fully understand what she means and the message she is implying. This poem shows many emotions like love, regret, hatred, sadness, and disappointment, a whole array of feelings related to abortion and the regret of taking an un-born's life.

The poem starts by stating that one cannot forget the aborting of a child. She remembers these children and the people that they could have become. She regrets not being able to perform motherly duties. She is haunted by the children she aborted and wishes that she could have raised them and regrets that she robbed them of the life that they would have had. She understands that she is at fault and is ashamed that she took their lives, but still loved them.

I believe that Brooks is very regretful of her actions and wishes she had chosen differently. But, she also believes that she made the right decision at the time. The statement "abortions will not let you forget" alone sets the tone for the poem. She obviously does not forget what she did and then goes on to describe why she will never forget it. With the line "I have heard in the voices of the wind the voices of my dim killed children" shows that she is haunted by her past decision and her dead children. She has done her best to cope with her decision but still suffers. She suggests that she isn't proud of what she did. She chose the word "dim" to describe the act of abortion; it is obvious that she thinks poorly of the event. The line "you will never neglect or beat them" shows that she wouldn't have been able to care for the children if she gave birth to them. It seems that she thinks they would have a better fate being dead than if they were in her care.

The line that most intrigued me is "believe that even in my deliberateness I was not deliberate". At first I thought that she was saying that she wasn't ready to have a child and took the easy way out. Then, after reading the poem several times, I discovered that she thought that she was helping them out by not having them. Though I do not agree with her opinion, I do find it interesting that

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