“The Mother”, by Gwendolyn Brooks, is about a mother who has experienced a

number of abortions a nd now has remorse. We can feel the remorse she is going through

when reading this poem. She is regretful, yet explains that she had no ther choice. It is a

heartfelt poem where a mother talks about how she will never able to do some certain things

for the children she aborted. I noticed that this poem. although had been written a long time

ago, still encompasses the emotional drought women experience in recent times, especially

those who cannot adapt to the emotional disturbing situation they get in through the

inconsiderate act of abortion. The poem tells us how to understand the true feelings of why

the mother had to abort the children, the feelings of the unborn babies from their unfinished

life and the moments that a mother can never do with the children.

In the first stanza, the feeling of sympathy towards the mother who performs abortion

can be derived from line 1, “Abortion will not let you forget”. I found that abortion will cause

us not to easily forget the amazing maternal feelings that we feel-in-depth in our heart since it

is hurting physically and emotionally every single women who do it. It also ruins the dreams

that every women desires which is to be a mother. The pain that you had to let go your babies

due to some unexceptional reasons and circumstances. In the poem, I feel sympathize towards

the mother because she lose the precious opportunity to take good care of her children, see

them growing up in front of her eyes and enjoy the fulfillment of life. In my point of view,

nobody wants to abort their children intentionally. They must be happy to know that they will

become a mother and go through the joyful journey of being a mother. It must be something

that lead them to take such a decision to do abortion such as poverty and health complication

which they know they cannot handle the children once they are born. Losing more than one

chance to be a mother or have a few child can make emotional impact of grieving to a mother.

Other than that, I sympathize towards the mother through the last stanza, “Believe me, I loved

you all …”. This line show that the mother expresses her unconditional love towards the

children and never forget the children. In my opinion, the mother keeps a special place in her

heart for the love she had towards her children. She just could not deny it and had to let it go

even though it was hard for her. I found that though she tried to justify her action on abortion,

she still felt guilty and weep towards her children because she knew that she had done

wrongdoing on taking away what is not supposedly be taken which is her children chance to

live the life.

Next, I feel sympathy towards the unborn child through line 17, “If I stole your births

and your names”. This line illustrates that the mother eventually killed and robbed the chance

for the unborn child to live in the world. They did not able to discover many precious things

in real world and could not know what is supposedly be their names or gender. In my opinion,

they are made from the mother’s and father’s love and their presence are evitable to complete

the relationship. However, it is a sad and cruel thing when their right to born and see the

world are denied. The pity unborn child lose their right to feel the fulfillment in life and even

do not able to have the strong bond with the mother. Besides that, I feel sympathy towards the

unborn child through line 4, “The singers and workers that never handled the air”. This line

portrays that the unborn child will have a career and interests in life if only they are born and

grow up. They will be the heirs of their parents and continue the generation of their family.

However, this dreams are taken away by the mother before they had time to plan their journey

of life and be somebody in the world. I agree that life can be tough sometimes. Despite of

that, I cannot imagine of getting rid of fetus, a soul in any circumstances. It is still part of us,

live inside our womb, sharing the same breath and the needs of life with us. In my

understanding, no child should be deprived of the right to be born, the right to be fed and the

right to get education.

Last but not least is my reaction towards line 5 to 6, “You will never neglect or beat

them, or silent, or buy them a sweet”. These lines are telling us some of the many things that

the mother could never does to her unborn child if she had abortion. In my interpretation, it

shows that the mother lost the chance to teach and educate her child. She never feel the

tiredness but somehow satisfied in growing up her child. She loses the best part of her life of

being a mother and can never pamper the child with her affection and attention. She does not

able to build the strong bond between a mother and a child. To adds up, I found that she feel

empty and mourn over her child’s absence by her sides. She is depressed as well because

those imagination of her child conquered her mind. In my opinion, she supposedly think

thoroughly and deeply on the pros and cons if she had the abortion. So that she will never

have to suffer those pain of memories between her and her unborn child or even facing the

emotional and physical disturbances.

As a conclusion, those are the evidence on how “The Mother” makes us sympathy to

the mother, unborn child and my reaction towards the woman based on line 5 to 6. This poem

brilliantly explains the fact that whether a woman takes the decision to abort her child by

herself or out of compulsion, once she loses the child, which is the most important part of her

forever, she will become heartbroken at any condition. The softness of a woman’s heart is

beautifully pictures in the poem once she experiences the motherhood.