the problematics of motherhood in twentieth century women's fiction

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motherhood and career only when they break free from
1nstitutionalised and enforced motherhood and veer towards a
new klnd of motherhood, free from the dictates of
androcentrlc culture
Of course, the extent to which they
succeed in re-defining motherhood varles In degree and klnd
In Sam, Meridian, Morag, Rosamund and Kate
Yet the fact
that remains is that they call for a replacement of the old,
~nstltutionalised, sacrlflclal mother-love by a more
personallsed motherlrg
Even when chlldren are considered
central as in The Illlstone, The Div~ners, The Dark Holds No
Terrors, the women begin to see motherhood as one aspect cf
thelr lives, not an ldent~ty for all time, other activities
are not suspended altogether
Feminlst motherhood hence
eschews the old patriarchal ideals in favour of personailsed
motherlng that can provlde women wlth the actual experlence
of motherlng, that can help them experlence the potentlal of
tl.eir own bodles and rear thelr chlldren with fenlnist
values, wlthout any lmpcsltlon from wlthout
Wlth psychlc
and physlcal ~ndependence, wlt5 'a room of :heir own', the
new mothers contend with femlnlne stereotypes and reductive
Images imposed on them s;r.ce centuries Their alm, flnally,
llke that of Adrlenne Rlch, 1s not to abollsh motherhood,
but to destroy the lnstltutlon of motherhood
It 1s "to
release the creation and sustenance of llfe into the realm
of decision, struggle, surprise, lmaglnation, conscious