the problematics of motherhood in twentieth century women's fiction

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nothing more than "a nuisance" (D 76).
In Nectar in a
Sieve, the pregnant Kunthi moves "gracefully despite her
burden" (NS. 6) . Saru ln The Dark Holda No Terrors regards
her chlldren as burdens and has distaste for the words "my
chlldren" (DH 149) because they sounded too possessive
Childbirth for her is associated wlth "n~ghtmares"(DH.184)
lust as her own mother regarded her blrth as "terrible"; the
word 'Mother' sounds llke "plnprlcks" (DH.1571 to Saru.
Association of lnfanticlde wlth vlolent lmagery 1s evldent
in The Eandmard's Tale - Images of stabblng a foetus wlth a
knlttlng needle (HT 11) Lesslng's novel, remlnrscent of
Kate Chopln's The Awakening, equates chlldren to "monsters"
and mother to a nvlctlm" (SBD 85), bound by "invisible
chams" ISBD 213) For Kate Brown, "the faces and movements
of most mlddle aged women are those of prlsoners or slaves"
(SBD 90i, Connie In Woman on the Edge of Time sees the
canned lnfants as "bland, bottle-born monsters of the
future" (WET.99) Merldian ln Meridian sees herself as a
slave to her chlld's wants and feels burdened wlth the
weight of motherhood, "he dld not feel llke anythlng to her
but a ball and chain" (M,63i, lust as her own mother's
reaction to motherhood was that of "a person who is belng
buried alive, walled away from her own life, brlck by brlck"
(M 41) Mrs.Xill feels Meridlan is a "monster" (M 85) to
give up her child. Merldian, like Drabble's Rosamund, has