Analyzing “Sadie and Maud”
Gwendolyn Brooks is an author that focused the themes of her poems on the everyday experiences in an African American community in Chicago. Brooks’ goals were to raise the awareness of struggles that were and are predominant associated with the minorities. The poem of “Sadie and Maud” illustrates the expectations and the roles of women during the 1940s. Brooks depicts these two sisters that appeared to be raised under the same societal expectations, but each took two different paths. Sadie stayed home from college and barley got through life as she was just scraping through life “with a fine toothed comb”. The expectation was for women to get married and then have children. However, Sadie had two children out of wedlock, which the poems says brought shame to the family.
Maud, on the other hand, was the sister that followed the societal expectations. Maud went to college, but she lived “all alone in (a) old house.” Meanwhile, her sister, Sadie, lived life to the fullest and…show more content… It exposes the truth that women cannot live up to the standards that are determined by society, even if you follow the guidelines exactly. If you exercise the right to rebel against the societal standards, you open yourself up to being mocked, scorned, and loss the respect of others. Either way, it is a win – lose situation. You are respected, but alone; or you are ridiculed, but happy. “Sadie and Maud” provides a narrative that should focuses on fighting against stereotypes and the inequalities of women, but first we must learn to recognize the societal misconceptions, chose to attain true happiness through other appropriate means, and create and follow our own standards. The definition of our true selves come from within, as what truly drives us is our internal motivation. We do not have to conform to society’s expectations, if no one is hurt through our own
