the problematics of motherhood in twentieth century women's fiction

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that the daughter often recelves a "double - message" from
the mother, one in whlch the daughter is encouraged to obey
rhe patrlarchal definition of her womanhood and another
message which pushes the girl toward definlng her identlty
in more achievement - oriented ways (cited in Buss 1985 :
56) As will be observed In The Dark Holds No Terrors and
The Summer Before the Dark and as already analysed In
Merldlan, thls "double - message" informs the relatlonshlp
between Plque and her mother The psychoioglcal lourney
reveals the ambivalence that characterlses the motherdaughter
relatlonshrp In Plque's efforts to achieve
autonomy, anger and affectlon vle with each other -- she
suffers because she feels that she has deserted her motner.
at the same tlme, she resents her chlldllke dependence She
struggles between anger, gullt and affectlon as she attempts
to define herself
3.3.2.2. Morag's reiatlonshlp wlth her own mother 1s
fraught wlth another klnd of amblgulty Slgnlfzcant here is
Morag's deslre rc converse wlth her dead mother, coupled
wlth the real~zatlon that she is now more than ten years
older than her moLher was when she died: "she would seem so
young to me, so rnexperlenced" (D 11). Morag remembers
only her parents' deaths, not their llves. "yet they're
lnslde me, flowlng unknown In my blood and movlng
unrecognized in my skull" (D :19). Morag's relationship