Both “Motherhood” and “The Mother” shows the different ways a mother grieves a child that they never had, to help make sure the mother is healthy as well as the baby. Motherhood shows a mother grieving her unborn child, not being able to let the child out of her (whether that is figuratively or literally) because of how the world is in this day, the world one day was so cruel to this woman that she is fearful of bringing a child she may have always wanted into the world.
The second story has a similar meaning, in “The Mother” we read of a woman who has had many abortions, grieving and seeing how she will never be able to meet the children she aborted. The line ” Abortion will not let you forget” is such a powerful opening to this poem, so many women have to get abortions for different health reasons to protect the mother and in a way protect the unborn child. It really stuck out to me because a lot of times you hear from people speaking on a woman’s body and if it was good or bad for them to get an abortions but in the end it is the woman’s body and these women still grieve the child. They still love the baby the same amount as if the child was alive. This was a gut wrenching read, both of them were, because it is real life experiences that happen to so many women.
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