the problematics of motherhood in twentieth century women's fiction

from the blologlcal to the psycho-soclal, the lnstltution
converts mothers Into reproductive and chrld-rearlng
2 7
machines
Asserting that self-reallzatlon and self
underscandlng are Irrelevant for the mother, feminine
motherhood demands of women a renunciation of personal alms
rn favour of famll~al ones
Moreover, soclety breeds guilt
Into the very fabrlc of a woman's character, holdlng her
responsible for anythlng that goes wrong In the famlly
Anger 1s regarded the antlthesxs of the maternal, and the
mother 1s expected to suppress it The subtle differences
In conformity to the rnstltutlon - meek acceptance,
burdensome acceptance or a waverlng between acceptance and
questlonlng - is also lndlcated
1.10.2. The transltlon from the 'fernmlne' to the
'femrnlst' phase of motherhood - whlch beglns wxth the
reallzatlon by women that the patriarchal lnstltution of
-1otherhood 1s not the natural human condltlon - forms the
crux ?f the rhlrd chapter, 'Puninlst Motherhood'
Fernlnlst
mothers oppose those aspects of motherhood thac make
chlldbearlng and chlldrearing stressful rather than
fulfllllng experiences
Polnting out the hlatus between the
lnstitutlcn and experience of motherhood or the
contradlctrons between ldeology and reallty, thls chapter
poses and explores the alternatives to femlnlne motherhood
The seeds of thrs 'new' motherhood are sown wlth the