Gender Roles And Happiness In Sadie And Maud, By Gwendolyn Brooks

In the poem Sadie and Maud, “Gwendolyn Brooks” clearly reflects the conflict between gender roles (social acceptance) and happiness. I consider the poem’s theme to be happiness. Basically, what I mean is that anyone can go against the rules of the society and still be happy. It is all about the choice we make. This choice determines the end result of our life.

The story portray the life of two sisters whose choice of decision decides the end result of their life. The author tells us about the difference between the two sisters, “Maud went to college / Sadie stayed home” (Brooks 1-2). This distinct differentiation gives me an insight and what I can picture about the characters of both sisters. Firstly, Maud who went to college is a sign of a great, bright and promising future that might be successful. But on the other end, Sadie stayed home gives me reasoning that Sadie would not be a successful as her sister Maud. Sadie would probably never be educated and therefore gives room to follow bad peer groups. The next line makes me wonder about Sadie’s life, “Sadie scraped life / With a fine-tooth comb” (Brooks 3-4). I wonder because the fact that Sadie is home gives her the room to mess around and Brooks already makes a point stating that Sadie scraped life which means that she lived her life the way she wanted irrespective of the gender role rules. All Sadie wanted was happiness and that she was getting by scraping life.

“She didn’t leave a tangle in / Her comb found every strand” (Brooks 5-6). It explains it all that Sadie was ready to live her life the way she wanted and that it should be based on happiness and not some rules to satisfy the interest of others.

Brooks makes me understand that Sadie made some wrong decisions by havin...

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...ce. The choice we make in life would either make us or break up as seen in the poem. The tone the author uses in this poem is a serious tone; the poet did not make any joke or riddle. Sadie was happy with the choice that she made and she was satisfied with her life but her parents were not. On the other hand, her parents were happy for Maud who went to college. Sadie and Maud show it all through the life style they lived. Sadie shows and proves that success is not based on going to college in order to learn and have a degree but being happy is the most important thing. But finally, I wonder, would Sadie’s children sacrifice happiness for education? Or would they make a decision to follow their mother’s traits?

Work Cited

Brooks, Gwendolyn. “Sadie and Maud.” Literature for Life. Ed. X.J. Kennedy, Dana Gioia, and Nina Revoyr. Boston: Pearson, 2013. 354. Print.