Image of sacrifice in school childrenSacrifice. A simple word brings to mind two completely different images. Today, sacrifice is often considered a noble and beautiful act, but also a painful, emotional, mental, and physical act, involving the surrender of something highly valued for the sake of something deemed of higher value. On the other hand, when performed in the name of religion, sacrifice may involve the offering of a gift to some deity as a sign of worship or propitiation. Usually, when the sacrifice involves the latter, the connotation of the term becomes obscured, since the dominant image is that of ritual slaughter. We generally don't think of mothers or children as victims of this type of sacrifice. The imagery in Louise Glück's poem The School Children, however, depicts mothers sacrificing their offspring and themselves for the sake of the children. The first stanza begins by stating: The children move on. They are leaving their mothers behind, going to a place inaccessible to them. At the moment the children are going to school, but as they progress, they will begin to surpass the achievements of their parents. Instead of feeling resentful, mothers do everything they can to ensure this progress continues. All morning the mothers were in labor. They work hard for the good of their children. They devote a lot of time and energy to manual labor. Mothers have struggled to give birth to their children, and are struggling to raise them into adulthood. They sacrifice themselves so that their children can have a better future than theirs....... middle of paper ......d, because fruit trees and gray branches do not provide many arguments in their battle for their children It's the future. Mothers will not be able to earn enough money doing such menial jobs to provide escape for their offspring or themselves. Escape will ultimately depend on the children's aptitude and resilience. The School Children presents a heartbreaking depiction of sacrifice and devotion. Louise Glück tells in a few lines the desperate love of mothers for their children. Mothers' sacrifice of themselves and those they care about, while painful for all, is an act of love, noble and beautiful. The images in The School Children paint images of work, separation and sacrifice, but ultimately of determination, devotion and love.