The Emotional And Personal Theme Of Abortion By Gwendolyn Brooks

"The Mother," by Gwendolyn Brooks, is a sorrowful, distressing poem about a mother who has experienced numerous abortions. While reading the poem, you can feel the pain, heartache, distress and grief she is feeling. She is both remorseful and regretful; nevertheless, she explains that she had no other alternative. It is a sentimental and heart wrenching poem where she talks about not being able to experience or do things with the children that she aborted -- things that people who have children often take for granted. Perhaps this poem is a reflection of what many women in society are feeling.

In Anne Sexton’s poem “The Abortion”, she uses literary devices to reflect her heart wrenching decision of whether or not to abort one of her children, which reflects the style of confessional poetry because she is sharing her personal feelings and experiences. Anne Sexton was a famous poet of confessional poetry, where the poets write about their private experiences with feelings about death, trauma, and depression in their lives. Anne Sexton wrote from the point of view of an upper middle class woman. She had two children, and the stress of having them, gave her life long depression. Sexton was sent to a psychiatric hospital after the birth of her second child. “The Abortion” displays all of Sexton’s feelings that she has about her abortion.

Abortion can cause periods of depression in which the pain can encysted. Some women become aggressive or nervous, or even hyperactive. Anxiety can find an answer food such as bulimia or, conversely, anorexia. For others, psychosomatic reactions will take over with stomach aches, absence of periods, headaches, the loss of self-esteem ("I'm bad, I'm unworthy, painful for others"), the fear of not being pregnant again or anxiety of existential insecurity are consequences commonly observed. Some episodes of a woman’s life can relive the acutely suffering felt at the time of abortion: the date in which the child had been born, or the anniversary date of the abortion, the desire to make present the dead child, are conducive to outbreaks of suffering intensely lived as, for example, anxiety or depressive

In the overarching state of humanity, few topics are as important to the long term societal standpoint as abortion. Even more important and contested is the controversial subject of whether or not a woman will endure long term psychological effects or disorders after said abortion. This subject has been highly debated, with valid points made by both sides. It is important that we all look into these repercussions, especially since approximately 33% of women will undergo an abortion by the time they reach forty-five years old. This often challenged subject has many aspects. The main ideas that I researched where whether or not having an abortion leads to a higher risk for mental health issues, whether or not “post-abortion syndrome” is a

In Gwendolyn Brooks’ poem “The Mother”, the author expresses a lot of her thoughts and feelings in order to share her experience. It is written in the first person and the narrator is adopted by the author herself, Gwendolyn Brooks, who embodies a weaken mother. In this poem, Gwendolyn Brooks tries to portray what abortion is for a woman and to describe the harsh truth about how women feel afterwards. Thus, this poem is mostly targeted to aim females and their feelings. First of all, abortion is the deliberate termination of a human pregnancy. First, the narrator uses many imageries, description, and a precise choice of words to explain this emotional topic of abortion. Second, her use

After a woman has an abortion, the chances are three to four times higher of the mother having a miscarriage because of damage to the uterus. There is a higher chance of the mother dying from having an abortion than there is from her dying from natural childbirth. Even though after an abortion the mother feels relief that the ordeal is over, feelings of “numbness” soon set in on their emotions. It’s not any different from what soldiers feel after being in the midst of war. It has been found in a study of 500 aborted women, 50 percent of them were dealing with negative feelings and 10 percent had “serious psychiatric complications.”

The Walls are Talking by Abby Johnson is an important book that every person considering abortion should read. As the women in the book account the tales of their abortions it is hard for the reader not to be horrified by the grotesque and dangerous actions taking place in abortion clinics. The Walls are Talking not only terrifies the reader of the true nature of abortion but also makes them empathize with the emotional turmoil that these women are thrown into. This can be seen particularly in one of the stories where a woman who already had nine abortions asked to see the ultrasound of her baby being aborted. The sight of her baby’s murder was so powerful that she decided she would no longer advocate for abortion.

This article was extremely sad and heartbreaking to read. It’s very hard to imagine what women during this time, underwent to handle an issue that is currently considered safe. I believe that Rosie Jimenez’s desperate action led to her decision. She should have sought support from her friend, instead of taking such extreme measures. I’m quite aware that due to actions like this, changes have been made to improve this issue as well as others. However, I still find it horrible that a young single mother pass away, leaving behind a growing daughter. Abortion is a very touchy subject matter but I believe that it’s an individual’s personal

Also for the children that didn’t get to live. In the quote "You were born, you had body, you died" (Brooks 31). That line elicits emotions of sadness. It also gives indication about the child that she did not get to have or give birth to. If the mother really loves her children, it is acceptable why she grieves over them. Throughout the poem, the thoughts and emotions from the narrator itself tell the audience of her inner thoughts. "On lines 24-32 she tries to make excuses, but they all fail, and she ends up by only saying that she loves "them all" ("The Mother: Gwendolyn Brooks - Summary and Critical Analysis"). With that being said, the narrator is also a character, specifically the main protagonist, of this poem. In one section of this poem, the audience can read her thoughts. The narrator blames herself for the act of aborting her children; "whine that the crime was other than mine" (Brooks 25). Evidently, the choice of abortion was not also her own in the decision. She states "believe that even in my deliberateness I was not deliberate" (Brooks 23). As previously mentioned, the mother is a character. As a the voice of her story, we get an in-depth of personal emotions that she expresses. The poem has a way of questioning her role as a mother. As a mother, she express love for her children; even if they are

The poem “The Mother” by Gwendolyn Brooks is about the aftereffects and feelings that come from an abortion. The woman in the poem shows remorse over the children she aborted earlier in her life and regrets that she gave up the chance to be a mother to them. This poem, while about a woman who chose to have abortions, still carries with it a clear pro-life message.

Judith J. Thomson’s argument is unique, because it doesn’t argue the fact that a fetus is not a person. It does the exact opposite as it promotes the idea that a fetus is in fact alive. However, the argument she points out that the fetus like a person is not entitled “to the continued use of the mother’s ‘resources’.” (Landau) Just like most who are pro-choice don’t recognize the unborn child is a person; those who are pro-life also forget that the mother is also a person, and has the same and if not more rights then the unborn child who is sharing her body.

Many women choosing to have an abortion are unaware of the psychological effects it will have on them. Many are affected for years or maybe even lifetime after the procedure. Abortion can affect each woman differently, some claim that abortion has negative effects on women’s mental health. Women have abortions for different reasons within different personal, social, economic, and cultural contexts. All of these may lead to variability in women’s psychological reactions following the abortion. This paper will focus on answering the following questions:

In this essay I will compare and contrast two literary works, Metaphors by Sylvia Path and the mother by Gwendolyn Brooks. While only fifteen years separate both poems, both works explore motherhood and pregnancy. In, Metaphors

Statement of Problem: Abortion is defined as the deliberate termination of a human pregnancy, most often performed during the first 28 weeks of pregnancy. Today, especially here in the United States of America, there is a growing issue and debate around the idea of abortion. There is a stigma against abortion because of the possibility of negative religious, political, medical, emotional, and mental consequences it may cause. Each year, worldwide there is an estimated 42 billion abortions that take place. This number does not include abortions that are not performed by professionals. The big issue alongside with abortion itself, is the affects it has on the mental health of females who undergo the procedure.

Being a mother is one of the best gifts from a life. A mother gives her children unconditional love without expecting anything in return. Being a mother means more than having given birth to a child. It is an invisible connection between mother and child; it is a blessing, a relationship that never ends and the love that never dies. However, for some women, motherhood might be challenging in ways they did not expect, forcing them to choose between having an abortion and keeping the child. The debate over abortion is an ardent and polarizing issue as there are those who believe that all humans including those unborn should have a right to life, and on the other side of the spectrum are those who believe it should a woman's right to choose whether she wants an abortion or not. This topic relates to Gwendolyn Brooks's poem, "The Mother", where the author describes the painful thoughts, heartbreak, and awful feelings that a woman experiences after having an abortion. Brooks lays out a helpful framework for understanding the difficult situation of facing unplanned pregnancy. In "The Mother", a woman recollects her inner conflicts as she laments over the guilt of having had an abortion and the future she never gave her would be child. Brooks's poem provides insight into the research which reveals how abortion affects women morally, psychologically, and religiously.