Gwendolyn Brooks:Sadie and Maud

Maud went to college.
Sadie stayed home.
Sadie scraped life
With a fine toothed comb.

She didn't leave a tangle in
Her comb found every strand.
Sadie was one of the livingest chicks
In all the land.

Sadie bore two babies
Under her maiden name.
Maud and Ma and Papa
Nearly died of shame.

When Sadie said her last so-long
Her girls struck out from home.
(Sadie left as heritage
Her fine-toothed comb.)

Maud, who went to college,
Is a thin brown mouse.
She is living all alone
In this old house.

This poem is comparing the lives of Sadie to Maud and how it landed them in very different places in life. It starts off by saying how Maud was the one that went to college and I know everyone thinks that the one who goes to college will probably be the one that will always come out on top in life. In this case, Sadie was the one in this poem that made the most out of life because of how she lived her life. It is saying that she is one of the most “livingest” chicks which probably means that she really enjoying and enhancing what life is giving her. She is “scraping life with a fine tooth comb” by celebrating and making the most of what everything around is offering her. She made sure that she did not miss a thing around even though she did not go to college. She wanted to make sure that she was happy and content with what it was offering. Although she made a life for herself, she went on to have two kids while she was unwed that really embarrassed Maud and Ma and Papa and made them ashamed. So eventually she left home but left a reputation behind also. However, Maud, the one who went to college, was the one that really missed out on life because she is now living all alone in the old house.