# Ballad of Gin Mary explained — Poetry

> Chapter companion for Poetry by Langston Hughes.

## What happens

A woman named Mary Jane stands before a judge who sentences her to eighteen months in jail for drunkenness, lamenting her lack of friends and her impending separation from gin.

## Themes in this chapter

### Poverty and Class Struggle

Mary's lack of friends and her desperation highlight the isolation and systemic punishment faced by the poor and marginalized.

## Character check-ins

### Mary

The defendant, known as Mary Jane, pleads for mercy as she is sentenced for drunkenness.

### Lawd

Invoked in Mary's cries of despair during her sentencing.

## Key lines

> Carried me to de court, Judge was settin’ there. Looked all around me, Didn’t have a friend nowhere.

I was taken to court where the judge was seated, and I saw no one there to support me.

_Mary expresses her isolation and lack of allies in the courtroom._

> Gwine give you eighteen months So licker’ll let you be.

I'm going to sentence you to eighteen months so that alcohol will leave you alone.

_The judge imposes a lengthy sentence intended to cure Mary's alcoholism through incarceration._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_15_se/chapters/ballad-of-gin-mary
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_15_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_15_se/chapters