the problematics of motherhood in twentieth century women's fiction

harm children
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It argues instead that women should feel
free to work and that men make good parents too
In thrs
connection, Gerson qulps that Spock has been as much
influenced by women as he has influenced them (1985 183) .
1.5.0. Literature reflects these changlng attitudes
towards motherhood As in llfe, so In llterature. there is
no gradual evolution rn the perspective towards motherhood -
the pattern is erratic Exalted to helghts in one era.
suppressed ln the next, domlnatlng In another, sllent or
Ignored In the succeedlng age - the 'real' mother st111
remalns eluslve Nevertheless, the succeedzng literary
resume attempcs to brlng out the myriad shades of the mother
flqure as reflected In the works of wrlters In different
ages and milleus
1.5.1. Much of Western llterature looks back to the
Demeter-Persephone myth as an archetype of the mother-
duughter relationship
According to thls myth. Persephone
iKore1 1s abducted and raped lln one verslon by Poseidon,
lcrd of the underworld, In another by Hades or Pluto, K ~ng
of death1
Demeter seeks revenge for the loss of her
daughter by forbidding the gram - of whlch she is queen -
to grow
When her daughter 1s restored to her - for nlne
months of the year only - she restores fruitfulness and llfe
to the land for those months
In thls myth, the separation