the problematics of motherhood in twentieth century women's fiction

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gut we do, wlth whole hearts" lWET.125), thus asserting that
blological reproduction is not the preconditlon for maternal
1 me
4.4.3.1. Through Connie's ultimate realization, Piercy
stresses that a blological relationship is not essential to
good parenting In her utopia, because no one has her/his
own genetlc child, chlldren are not their parents,
possessions to be brought up In thelr parents' image and
reared according to then idiosyncratic values Connle
eventually agrees that technologlcal reproductlon 1s
superlor to blological reproduction In that the klnd of
mother1r.g that flows from rt is truly nurturing and
unselfish, totally separated from ambivalent feellngs of
resentment and gullt, and always freely chosen
4.4.4. Whlle Plercy wishes to underline that
technologlcal reproduction wlll obliterate the equatior. of a
woman zo her womb, Atwood refutes thrs assertion In The
Handmaid's Tale, Offred realizes that Gllead echoes the
anclent Greek concept that a woman 1s her womb The only
value that women hold here is by vlrtue of thelr belng
vessels to carry the embryos Thls sense of frustration at
belng only gestational mothers, mere reproductive machines,
makes her comment "We are containers, it's only the lnsides
of our bodles that are important" iHT.96) Atwood agrees