Happiness In Sadie And Maud

In Gwendolyn Brooks’s “Sadie and Maud,” Brooks gradually develops the theme that happiness is not always guaranteed when you follow the rules of society. Society is often oppressive and not very lenient to people who stray from its Standards. In similar fashion, people who did follow society’s path may end up miserable when they find out there is no happiness at the end of the path. A perfect example of this can be seen in the contrast, tone, and situational irony illustrated throughout the poem “Sadie and Maud”.
In the poem “Sadie and Maud,” Brooks starts off differentiating between the two characters Sadie And Maud. “Maud went to college./ Sadie stayed at home,” (line 1-2). It is apparent that these two sisters are heading towards different

The tone of this poem is enlightening. The author delivers the message that there is no guarantee of happiness when following the rules of society.The author does this by showing how two different the two sisters, Sadie and Maud, feel after taking two different approaches to life. The first perspective shown is Sadie. She lives life by her own rules, going against society 's expectation and yet still achieving happiness. “She didn’t leave a tangle in./ Her comb found every strand,”(line 5-6). Meaning that Sadie lives life to the fullest taking every opportunity as it is presented to her. The second perspective shown is Mauds. She has fallen into the grasp of society’s norm but still was not able to achieve a fulfilled life like her sister. “Maud, who went to college,/ Is a thins brown mouse,”(line 17-18). These two lines represent how by maud going to college and following social norms she becomes a little brown mouse. The author compares her to a “thin brown mouse”(line 18) because thin brown mice are hidden in the shadows and not noticed. So, the tone of this poem would be enlightened on the fact that nothing is predetermined and there is no cookie-cutter path to follow when it comes to