I chose to write about Gwendolyn Brooks because I can relate to her material. I particularly liked the piece titled, “A Song in the Front Yard” because it reminds me of when I grew up in the hood. She writes about the ghetto, describing it as a harsh yet entertaining environment. It is fascinating how she successfully paints a beautiful picture of the ghetto, and transforms it into an intriguing place in which to have fun.

Brooks does an excellent job of making the ghetto come to life. As I read her poem, I was easily transported to the days when I used to enjoy playing in the streets of my neighborhood. Much like the voice in the poem who felt a strong desire for playing in the ghetto, I too felt a sudden nostalgia for the rough and dirty places I used to trample in.

The tone of the author in this piece is that of a rebellious child, questioning the rules and yearning for freedom to do as she wishes and be like the kids in the ghetto. She says:

“My
mother sneers, but I say it’s
fine

How they don’t have to go in at a quarter to
nine.

My mother, she tells me that Johnnie Mae

Will grow up to be a bad
woman…

But I say it’s fine. Honest, I do.

And I’d like to be a bad woman, too.”

I remember the multitude of times when my parents tried to persuade me into thinking that all of my neighborhood buddies where bad people. Unlike the character in Brooks’ poem, I did not have the guts to say that “it was fine.” Instead, I would agree, sneak out behind their backs and stay out until a quarter to three, in the morning that is.

I think that the sociological aspects in this piece are the stereotypes made by the middle class woman of the lower class “charity children.” One could get a feel for how this middle class family lives, by the descriptions given in this poem. They have a front yard with roses, and a gate in the backyard that leads to the alley. One gets the impression that the mother and her daughter do not live in the ghetto. Although little George may be a bad kid, on the account that he stole and sold this family’s back gate, it does not mean that Johnnie Mae will turn out to be a bad woman just because she lives down the alley in the concrete jungle (ghetto).