Gwendolyn Brooks 'A Song In The Front Yard'

Children seek after rebellion and grow up before their parents' eyes losing their innocence, desiring to go against their parents’ will to break the family norm. Sometimes these behaviors are expected and sometimes they are difficult to accept. Gwendolyn Brooks’ “a song in the front yard,” was written from the perspective a young girl desiring change and rebellious adventure. The young girl desires to go to the backyard, a place of unknown. While the front yard is beautiful and cultured, the back yard appears more appealing and favors a secret, forbidden garden requiring an invitation. It is unknown, adventurous, and seems to have a beauty to unveil for the young girl. However, due to the young girl’s mother’s restrictions and attempts of protection,

However, the mother has a desire to shelter and protect her daughter from all of life's harms and evils. It appears that the only way to make this happen is by keeping the daughter in the front yard. The daughter states, “I’ve stayed in the front yard all of my life (1),” reminding the reader of her desire for change. But, the mother is content with the decisions she has made for her daughter. From the mother’s perspective, she is being the best mother she can be. She is cognizant of her daughter’s actions and keeps watch and control of her. However, many would say the mother is trying to do too much. The contrast between being a good mother and being an overbearing mother create a fine line between the two possibilities. The daughter has reached the point where the front yard is no longer good enough and she craves to venture to the back. But, the mother constantly reminds her daughter that the back yard is not for her. The mother has a fear of her daughter losing her innocence. The daughter says, "My mom, she tells me that Johnnie Mae/ will grow up to be a bad woman (13-14)." Thus, the daughter infers that the mother is fearful she will turn out like the rest of the kids of their society who have rebelled against their authority

The mother’s overbearing behaviors have instilled rebellious thoughts and actions in the daughter’s life. The young girl makes comments to her mother about the backyard, but the, “mother sneers, but I say it’s fine (11).” Rather than appreciation for her mother’s strict behaviors, the behaviors have only built up a greater temptation for the young girl. Temptation is introduced through the garden in the front yard because the symbolism of a garden relates to the temptation in the Garden of Eden. The poem reads, "I've stayed in the front yard all of my life (1)," so the reader then assumes the young girl has never been able to break out of the order of the front yard. Her mother does not allow her to go to the backyard or even take "a peek (2)." In the same ways that the young girl wants to disobey her mother’s authority and rule, Eve wants to take fruit and eat from the one tree the Lord forbid her to eat from. In both circumstances the two women know they should not do it because it goes against what they have taught. Yet, the temptation pushes them to their