Attitudes towards Motherhood in The Mother by Gwendolyn Brooks and Giving Birth by Margaret Atwood - Essay Example

Attitudes towards Motherhood in "The Mother" by Gwendolyn Brooks and "Giving Birth" by Margaret Atwood “The Mother” by Gwendolyn Brooks is a poem while “Giving Birth” by Margaret Atwood is a short story. Both the works are quite different in terms of attitudes towards motherhood. In “The Mother”, Gwendolyn Brooks informs about a woman who is not a mother but the one who always aborts her children. In spite of the abortion of children, she feels love for her children.

In “Giving Birth”, Margaret Atwood informs about two women that are pregnant and have to give birth to a child. Gwendolyn Brooks informs in “The Mother” about a woman who becomes pregnant but aborts her children. She is shown as having a love for her children but her abortions are quite ironic. The poem talks about a mother who is no mother (Grimes 2007). The attitude towards motherhood and children is quite loving but the act of abortion indicates that the mother never wants her children.

She considers it a crime that indicates that she is fully aware of her act of abortion. The mother of “The Mother” never gives birth to a child but loves her children in her fantasy while the mother in “Giving Birth” gives birth to a child but shows a little concern towards the child and considers herself in a divided personality.