the problematics of motherhood in twentieth century women's fiction

The hand that rocks the cradle does not rule the world
In fact, from my observation of mothers In a soclety llke
that of ours, I have come to the conclusion that it is
precisely rocklng the cradle that prevents the hand from
rullng the world
This set me thinking - Why 1s ~t that
motherhood has become an oppressive rather than a fulflllrng
experience for women'
Why does the choice always have to be
an either/or one - motherhood or career, motherhood or
~ndlvlduality'
To get answers to these questlons, I took
recourse to the literature of various countries, spanning
the twentieth century, that glve their own perspective on
motherhood, and attempted to llnk them to the soclal reallty
of the past and present, whlch deflnltely has ~ ts bearlng on
the future
A few questlons have been answered through thls
study, some have become even more complicated, and many more
are stlll open to d~scusslon
An Issue as delrcate and
sensitive as motherhood - wlth lts blologlcal,
psychological, famlllal, soclal and religious ramlflcatlons
- no doubt, stlrs up varlous controversial debates In thls
thesis, I have attempted to conslder all sldes of the
argument before reachlng a consensus