“Little Green” Analysis

             Nothing more tragic or painful can befall a woman, than separation from her child. Done being “a child pretending”, Joni Mitchell in her short poem “Little Green”, conveys the importance of responsibility and maternity through a repetitive use of symbolic imagery, simple but potent characterization, allusions to her past via personification, and powerful personal experience.

“Little Green” the title, actually refers to Mitchell’s own child whom at the age of 20 she decided, for the sake of her daughter, to put up for adoption. She uses the color green as a dualistic symbol to portray the innocent, new life of her child and the season of spring, “Call her green and the winter cannot fade her.” She draws a connection between green representing spring or an inextinguishable symbol of life versus winter, a symbol/metaphor for the struggles and adversity of life.  Envy could also be a motive behind her use for the color as a result of herself: being the opposite incarnation of her child’s innocence and actually being envious of the child’s purity.

            A simplistic characterization is used by Mitchell to portray the image and background of the mother (Mitchell herself), the father, and the child “Little Green”. As the poem starts off, in the very 2^nd line, Mitchell indicates her position with her child- “Choose her a name she will answer to.”   Although this line may confuse when it is initially read due to Mitchell’s odd choice of point of view (in 3^rd person), it indicates her position as a mother who will not be raising her newborn child, but instead instructing, or rather asking another to do so in her stead. In a single line, Mitchell defines one side of herself and her life. The father is drawn as someone careless, selfish, “he’s a non-conformer.”  Any man who would leave their daughter, and head “-to California” “Hearing that everything’s warmer there” is more than just a non-conformer; Mitchell may have even used sarcasm in that line. “Little Green”, in contrast to her less than ideal parents, is a symbol for life, spring, and the true goodness of the world. Mitchell then concludes her characterization with herself, with- “You’re sad, and you’re sorry, but you’re not ashamed”. It serves as true demonstration of her own emotions. She felt sadness, and remorse, but not guilt, for she knew by giving her up she would also in turn be giving her “a happy ending”, something that as a mother she can take pride and happiness in. And in another single line, she defined the side of herself she always wanted to be, the side she wanted others to see.

            Although not as prominent as her symbolism or use of characterization, Mitchell also further defines herself as well as “Little Green” through the use of personification. “Like the color when the spring is born” shows the direct connection between “Little Green” and her birth, to the birth and the rebirth of the world through spring. It is clear and simple yet very potent and meaningful. Through allusion as well as personification, Mitchell additionally ties in her past native Canada as well as extending “Little Green’s” symbolism-“Like the nights when the Northern Lights perform”. She attaches beauty and awe to her child through her own experiences of this natural phenomenon from her childhood in Canada.

            In the end, after the decision Mitchell made, she found happiness by atonement through music. She freed herself of the child’s burden and the burden of misguidance and misfortune the child would have carried. Mitchell pushed through the difficulties of life and came out with an understanding of its goodness. There will be times of joy -“And sometimes there’ll be sorrow”, a tenet Joni Mitchell not only learned, but experienced.