Abortions Will Not Let You Forget: Journal Article by R. C. Evans

Historical Background

"The Mother," written in 1945 by Gwendolyn Brooks, emerges in the context of mid-20th century America, a period marked by social and economic struggles, especially within African American urban communities. The poem conveys the personal and societal weight of abortion, capturing the emotional complexity experienced by women during a time when abortion was largely taboo and illegal. Brooks’s work reflects both the gendered and racial issues of the era, situating the narrator’s experience amid poverty and social marginalization.

Emotional and Social Contexts

Brooks’s poem delves deeply into the psychological aftermath of abortion, portraying the speaker’s intense feelings of regret, sorrow, and mourning for the unborn children she refers to as “dim killed children.” The narrator expresses both love and guilt, giving voice to a mother who simultaneously accepts responsibility and struggles with the pain of loss. The poem’s free verse form and first-person perspective invite readers into intimate reflection on motherhood, societal judgment, and personal memory. It also touches on the broader social dynamics affecting African American women, including poverty and restricted choices, highlighting how abortion carries emotional, social, and moral complexities. The speaker’s vivid imagery catalogs the lost futures and joys of the aborted children, emphasizing both the personal grief and the societal silencing of such experiences.

Literary and Theoretical Framework

Literarily, “The Mother” is a lyric poem characterized by its raw, candid tone and evocative imagery that challenges prevailing social attitudes toward abortion. It situates itself in the tradition of confessional poetry, presenting a nuanced, honest engagement with themes often marginalized in literature. The poem interrogates ideas of morality, identity, and maternal responsibility within a socio-cultural framework that stigmatizes abortion, producing a tension between personal experience and public discourse. Brooks’s use of direct address and striking diction (“killed children,” “crime,” “dead”) forces a confrontation with taboo subjects, urging readers to reconsider prevailing binaries of victim and wrongdoer. The poem also participates in feminist and African American literary traditions by centering a black woman's voice and her lived realities, highlighting resistance to socio-cultural norms that dismiss women’s complex emotional lives.

Key themes

• Regret and mourning for aborted children vividly expressed.
• Complex emotions of love, loss, and responsibility explored.
• The poem highlights the psychological impact of abortion.
• Nostalgia for unrealized potential and life experiences.
• Societal pressures and poverty contextualize the personal struggle.
• Honest confrontation with guilt and deliberate choice.

Symbols & ambiguities

Recurring images include the "dim killed children," voices in the wind, and breasts the children never suckled, symbolizing lost lives and nurturing denied. The poem’s ambiguity centers on whether the speaker’s unborn children ever truly existed—living and dead in a paradox—and how this reflects her conflicting feelings of guilt versus rational acceptance. This tension shapes the poem's emotional depth, forcing readers to weigh personal accountability against broader social realities. The interplay of sorrow, silence, and confession marks the poem’s interpretive core.

Study questions

What emotions does the speaker reveal about abortion and motherhood?
How does the poem balance guilt and acceptance of the speaker’s choices?
In what ways do poverty and social context influence the speaker’s regret?
What role do the “dim children” play in expressing loss and memory?
How does Brooks use poetic form to underline emotional honesty?
Can the children be understood as real or symbolic, and why?
How does the poem challenge or reinforce societal views on abortion?
What is the significance of the speaker addressing her children directly?

Critical approaches & debates

Scholars primarily interpret R. C. Evans’s article on Gwendolyn Brooks's "The Mother" through feminist and psychoanalytic lenses, focusing on the poem's exploration of conflicted motherhood, regret, and memory. Feminist readings highlight the emotional and social consequences of abortion on the female speaker, emphasizing maternal loss and societal pressures. Psychoanalytic approaches focus on guilt and mourning for the “dim killed children.” Some critics argue the poem’s tone underscores a universal maternal sorrow, while others see it as a critique of societal constraints and the psychological toll on impoverished Black women. Debate exists over whether the poem is an anti-abortion lament or a more nuanced reflection on complex emotions and autonomy.

Key passages

A crucial passage is the opening line, “Abortions will not let you forget,” which introduces the central metaphor of memory as an unrelenting presence. The poem repeatedly uses anaphora and vivid imagery, such as “the children you got that you did not get,” which paradoxically frames aborted fetuses as both children and losses. This language evokes the tension between life and absence and underscores the speaker’s enduring emotional burden and love.

Bibliography

Brooks, Gwendolyn. “The Mother.” A Street in Bronzeville, Harper & Brothers, 1945. Essential primary text reflecting themes of motherhood and abortion.
Evans, R. C. “Abortions Will Not Let You Forget: A Close Reading of Gwendolyn Brooks’s ‘The Mother’.” Journal article analyzing complex maternal emotions and societal critique.
Recent scholarship exploring Black maternal subjectivity and reproductive politics provides useful context, e.g., literary journals from the past 15 years focusing on feminist and African American studies.