the problematics of motherhood in twentieth century women's fiction

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198 5.4.2. In Herland, Charlotte Perkins Gilman uses the utopian mode as a machine for dismantling popular pre3udices concerning interconnected concepts as gender stereotyping, sexual dlvislon of labour, and motherhood, with an eye to some future reconstruction. Retaining the equation of women to nature. Gilman accepts the claim that 'biology' 1s destiny and transforms it into the definition of woman as truly different and inherently superior to men Joyfully clalmlng nature as woman's own provlnce, Gllman creates an ocherdorld of female retreat, maklny it a vantage polnt cutslde tke prevailing culture Parthenogenetic reproduction In the utopla, whlch suggests that women's bodles are or can be free from phallocentrlc law, functions on another level as a declaration of female llterary selfsuffrc~ency Herland is ln facL one of the earllest femlnlst utoplas to exhibit pol~tlcal and textual sophlstlcatlon, and to construct a femlnlst reading posltlon as a strategy ln the productlon cf a femlnlst subject Gllman's use of the nineteenth cen:ur). convenclon of love story and her sustained use of the quest narrative, axd thls deconstructlve prccess 5.4.3. Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale interestingly illustrates that a man's utopia can be a woman's dystopla Atwood's dystopian targets include reproductive technology, patriarchal hlerarchy and the repression of women in a male-
dominated soclety. 199 In Atwood and Plercy's dystoplas, all the unwanted elements of society - aggression, pollution, sexlsm and alienation - find place While the two utoplas, Aerland and Mattapoisett, present a soclal state where rationality, harmony, utillty and order prevall, the dystoplas ---- Gllead and the soclety of Gildma's tlme --- warn of a future that the present may be incubating. The utoplan wrlters depict human nature changing for the better, the dystoplan writers deplct it belng manipulated for the worse As Nan Bowman Alblnskl noces, dystop~a 1s "a soclety demonstrably worse than the known worid, lf eutopla is the dream, dystopla is the nightmare" (1988 111 5.5.0. Apart from the expllclt statements, the overt speeches and actlons of the characters, the irnpllclt lnteractlon of the imagery also contributes to worklng out the problematlcs of motherhood. The novels under study employ metaphors, symbols and lmages - both abstract and concrece - to reinforce and reiterate the phases of motherhood, be ~t femlnlne, feminist or technolog~cal Desplte the cultural differences, strlklng slrnllarltles ln the employment of Images, symbols and myths as artlstlc tools, can be observed In the authors under study Animal lmages connoting docility, muteness or tame acqJlescence, deflne the feminlne mother or indlcate the grotesque naVJre and stark physicality of sexuality and childbirth; avian
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THE PROBLEMATICS OF MOTHERHOOD IN T
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POONAM MINOCHA Research Scholar Dep
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The hand that rocks the cradle does
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university. New Delhi; Pondicherry
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CEAPTER - 11 INTRODUCTIONS PROBLEMA
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manipulation of her self whereas Mr
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This chapter explores the major que
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and career, single parenting, ambiv
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INTRODUCTION : PROBLEllATICS OP XOT
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3 institution of motherhood In her
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5 aspect of the female body and 'ge
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1.2.1. The dissertation takes for ~
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9 goddess with the human mother, im
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11 example, portrays Sophie, the 'i
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harm children 13 It argues instead
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15 fourteenth-century mother and he
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17 Gold, The Ice Age and The Middle
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19 1.6.2 The two American novelists
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21 finds herself at crossroads - sh
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enmeshed in the femlnine motherhood
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25 unrecognizable as individuals" (
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from the blologlcal to the psycho-s
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narrative point of view, structure,
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3 1 By emphasizing the primacy of m
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TO bear a child, preferably a son,
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35 the moral, transf0m:ng the biolo
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37 2.2.1. Before the summer of her
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2.2.1.3. Kate trles to Inculcate in
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sexually knowledgeable woman of the
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other hand, completely convinced by
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2.2.2.4. Ira retalns some of her mo
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47 2.2.2.7. Apart from Rukmani and
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malevolence of the instltutlon itse
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for her it involves both a give and
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5 3 daughter Beloved the second tim
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'feminist' daughter. 5 5 What one s
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57 nurturing relationship Walker he
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59 far preferable to rejection or i
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lnwlcation of the ability to relate
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63 mother After a long bout of fami
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Her frail independence gave way to
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male. Rich interprets Yahweh's comm
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2.5.3. Nectar in a Sieve reiterates
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. 71 internalization of a 'code of
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73 Gilman's concept, therefore, is
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to the Church in the same way as he
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77 2.7.1. Rukmani of Nectar in a Si
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79 The mother therefore serves as b
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81 comprehends that Michael's wife
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BEKINIST MOTBEICBOOD To be a good m
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85 3.2.0. In the novels under study
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3.3.1. In Alice Walker's Meridian,
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As will be seen subsequently, symbo
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91 that the daughter often recelves
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dentity. What Elaine Showalter says
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(1987.110) Although no resolution i
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97 :elect it. Her obsessive remembr
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core: "Daughter? I don't have any d
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OD she forms with her daughters. Be
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experience and motherhood as an ins
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105 of the double message she recei
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107 Jaya of That Long Silence and I
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109 saru marries Manu mainly to bre
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him on this account. Not withstandi
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113 chat that Went on in the queue,
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115 adaptability, but realizes that
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and behavlng well and you should an
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119 embodiment. Kate's dilemma is s
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121 them to be childrearers once th
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Work means getting away from home,
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125 would probably have become some
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127 motherhood and career only when
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129 she does not grant =he 'father'
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131 social construct, Gilman was wl
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out a change ln attitude towards mo
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135 the House' and loosening the te
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13 7 of one's Own' is essentlal to
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139 example that comes to mind imme
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141 experlences a fragmentation of
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TECHNOLOGIC& MOTEERBOOD It was part
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145 4.1.1. This brlngs us to the qu
Page 163 and 164: 147 womb, sometimes after it has be
Page 165 and 166: 149 bodies of brain-dead pregnant w
Page 167 and 168: 151 4.2.4.1. Surrogate motherhood h
Page 169 and 170: 153 vitro gestation (IVG) which inv
Page 171 and 172: 155 pregnancy necessary? Do foetuse
Page 173 and 174: 157 prosperity of then children dep
Page 175 and 176: 159 strengthen male control over fe
Page 177 and 178: 161 chlld, while advocates of techn
Page 179 and 180: clash with a woman's llved experlen
Page 181 and 182: 165 children and more a displacemen
Page 183 and 184: 167 w~th Adrienne Rich's stance tha
Page 185 and 186: 169 allowing women to place themsel
Page 187 and 188: 171 4.5.2 Mothering, In Mattapoiset
Page 189 and 190: 173 with a new consclousness" (Lane
Page 191 and 192: 175 subverts the existing stereotyp
Page 193 and 194: 177 when they learn from the men th
Page 195 and 196: 179 4.9.0. As Piercy's Wcrman on th
Page 197 and 198: 181 patrlarchal culture, we see her
Page 199 and 200: THE USTEETICS OF MOTHERHOOD . Women
Page 201 and 202: 185 sees lt, the mother's voice is
Page 203 and 204: esurrected female slave narrator's
Page 205 and 206: 189 daughter and her wrlting and wh
Page 207 and 208: 191 through the flrst person narrat
Page 209 and 210: 193 on Kate, uslng the omniscient n
Page 211 and 212: 195 story, It is also the story of
Page 213: 197 narrative of her visit to a uto
Page 217 and 218: 201 buffalo" (NS 14) brlngs to ligh
Page 219 and 220: 203 going to do, just lay there and
Page 221 and 222: 205 Further, the chlldren brought u
Page 223 and 224: everyone she knew - but it had neve
Page 225 and 226: more my style" (SBD . 228) says Mau
Page 227 and 228: 211 trees, fountains and flowers Th
Page 229 and 230: Quite ironically, the Commander's w
Page 231 and 232: 215 5.5.3.8. The river 1s a dominan
Page 233 and 234: 217 5.5.3.11. Morag of The Diviners
Page 235 and 236: separation is as easy as cutting of
Page 237 and 238: 221 mixed feelings about her child.
Page 239 and 240: 223 (WET:95) and "canned childLren1
Page 241 and 242: 225 Piercy's Woman on the Edge of T
Page 243 and 244: 227 5.5.9.6. "Maternity clothes", "
Page 245 and 246: 229 warmth and shelter and at the s
Page 247 and 248: 231 prompts Terry to remark that th
Page 249 and 250: deepest religious emotion, every fe
Page 251 and 252: 235 In Search of Our Mothers' Garde
Page 253 and 254: 237 Demeter, searching for her daug
Page 255 and 256: 239 - the ways in which feminine mo
Page 257 and 258: 241 6.2.0. A quick recapitulation o
Page 259 and 260: 243 freedom: those with an aptitude
Page 261 and 262: considered natural, conversely ther
Page 263 and 264: 247 not relieve the mother of her r
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249 androcentric society which repe
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251 The Summer Before the Dark and
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253 should orientate themselves to
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255 The Sunmar Before the Dark and
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257 semen, socially, ethically and
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259 feminine motherhood allow them
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261 for exploration, and Gloria Nay
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SELECT BIBLIOaRAPHY PRIMARY SOWRCES
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Budhos, Shirley 1987: The Theme of
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Gould, Joan 1988: Spirale : A Woman
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Mala, R. 1989: The Predicment of th
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Rumsey, Jean P. 1990: "Constructing
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Veevers, J.E. 1991: Continuity and
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