Gwendolyn Brooks The Mother

Gwendolyn Brooks poem “The Mother” referred to a serious issue abortion. The poem looks at the agonizing decision of a mother to abort a human being. “The Mother” brought chills to my soul because the story hit home. The words of the poem states, “Abortions will not let you forget. You remember the children you got that you did not get,” (Brooks, 1963, p. 4). I know several individuals that had to make that crucial decision to terminate a fetus, I can identify with the pain that a mother endures. Aborting a child is an image that may never go away, “I have heard in the voices of the wind the voices of my dim killed children” (Brooks, 1963). Some mothers struggle with the decision to have an abortion because of the fear of being haunted by horrible nightmares.

For example, abortion was shunned because righteous people believed that it was a sin. I appreciate that the poem did not blame or state if a person was right or wrong. Who am I to judge, abortion may be necessary in some circumstances because the ultimate decision lies with the mother. This poem was written before the Roe vs. Wade Decision to affirm the legality of a woman to have an abortion.

Brook imagines the thoughts, pains, love, and grief that a mother experiences after having an abortion. The mother is undergoing a post-abortion emotional experience. The mother said” If I stole your births and your names, Believe that even in my deliberateness I was not deliberate” (p. 4). After aborting a fetus, many mothers fall into a deep