the problematics of motherhood in twentieth century women's fiction

fattening on soil and sun and water, swelled dally
larger and longer and ripened to yellow and red,
untll at last they were ready to eat (NS:B)
The rlpe frult evokes a response In Rukmanl's body too ---
pleasure was maklng my pulse beat, the blood, unbidden,
came hot and surglng to my face" (NS 9 )
Thls comparison
between the rlpenlng frult and the mother waltlng for her
child to be born 1s made expllclt towards the latter part of
the novel Rukmanl and Nathan watch the paddy rrpen as "a
mother [watches] her chrld, wlth prlde and affection"
INS 931
The man - woman - chlld relatlonshrp 1s also
envisaged xn terns of seed / frult lmagery
hls seed and he wlll see her frultful" (NS 116)
"She wrll carry
5.5.3.3. As 1r. Herland and Nectar in a Sieve, so In The
Handmaad's Tale, frults and flowers are assoclated w~th
fert;l~ty
The Glleadeans greet each other wlth the words,
"Blessed be the fruit" (HT 19), the pregnant woman's stomach
1s compared to "a huge frurt" IHT 261
'ere
Seeds and fru~ts
are however assoclated wlth manipulated, not natural
repronuctlon
In Gllead, there 1s nc such thlng as male
sterlllty -- there are only "women who are frultful and
women who are barren" (HT 611
the Blbllcal alluslon
Thls lmage 1s hlghlrghted In
God to Adam God to Noah Be fruitful, and
multiply, and replenish the earth Am I ln
God's stead, who hath wlthheld from thee 'he fruit
of the womb? (HT. 881 (emphasis added)