In the poem it doesn't seem like it turns out great for Maud. Maud goes into college, possibly to impress her parents, while Sadie stayed home. It doesn't seem that Sadie was un-happy, but it did seem like her family was un-happy with her choice. Sadie had 2 babies, and ended up dying and leaving something from herself (her comb) to her 2 children. Maud ended up alone and un-happy in a lonely home. To me it seems that Sadie was more satisfied with her life then Maud.
The theme to me is happiness. I think that Maud played by the rules, and wasn't always happy. Sadie did what she chose, and was happy with her decision and regardless of what her parents thought, she went through with it. Sadie lived her life, and was happy. Maud didn't live her life to the fullest and suffered alone.
Id say that the poem shifts before the last two paragraphs. It seems that Sadie is looked down on and her parents are ashamed of her naming her 2 girls with their maiden name, but in the end it shifts to Maud being un-happy.
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.
The poem Sadie and Maud by the phenomenal poet Gwendolyn Brooks was written in the forties when ideals and expectations for women were more