the problematics of motherhood in twentieth century women's fiction

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embodiment. Kate's dilemma is such that she is unable to
completely shed her feminine role, nor is she able to fully
absorb the feminist values. She wonders at the complacency
of young mothers she comes across and finds them moving with
confidence
It is thls confidence that Kate feels she has
lost in excess of self-consc~ousness, In awareness of the
consequences of what she did, just as Rosamund Stacey of The
Millstone and Morag of The Diviners feel outsiders to the
world of maternity, Isolated by virtue of their intellect
Kate contrasts these young women to the older women, her
contemporaries, and sees cautxcn and suspxclon wrlt large on
thelr faces, thelr movement seem~ng as though they are
afrald of being trapped by somethlng, afrald of knocklng
lnto somethlnq, as ~f surrounded by lnvislble enemres
She
concludes that the faces and movements of most middle-aged
women are those of prisoners or slaves
3.4.5.6. Standing on the brink of feminlst motherhood. Kate
gets a gl~mpse of what possljl1lt;es could be open to her
Though she returns Some ln the end, 1t is wlth a heightened
awareness of her situation, wlth an altered appearance and
perception.
Lesslnq makes lt clear that her protagonist
wlll not revert to belng just 'Michael's wife' or her
'children's mother', but w ~ll forge an ldentlty of her own.
3.4.6. Whlle femlnlne motherhood presupposes that the
maternal instinct is a natural condition In women and