the problematics of motherhood in twentieth century women's fiction

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2.2.1. Before the summer of her awakenlng, Kate Brown of
The S W I Before the Dark, 1s one such woman who languishes
ln her domestlc role, servlng the needs of her husband and
children Like the women Frledan describes, Kate too
unknowlngly destroys the woman withln and unquestioningly
conforms to her soclll role Confined to her home and
domestic dutles. Kate plays her part of the model wife and
mother The flrst sentence of the novel '(A woman stood on
her back step, arms folded, waltlngu ISBD 5) speaks
volumes about the femlnlne woman who, standlng on the brlnk
of a male-centered soclety, lust walts and watches Culte
slgnlflcantly, Lesslng refers to her protagonist at the
beginning of the novel as slmply 'a woman', emphaslzlna, as
lt were, her typlcal, femlnine role -- a 'woman' not lust
slgnlfylng Kate, but Everywoman, imparting an archetypal
dlmensron to the woman's predicament Only in her innernost
reflections at thls ~uncture 1s she referred to as 'Kace'
This blfurcatlon between her 'self' and her 'r3le'
reiterates the dichotomy between tne 'femlnlne' and the
about - to - emerge 'fernlnlst' In her Further, In order to
Stress Kate's domestlc, marltal and maternal roles, Less~ng
wlth lronlcal overtones, employs various epithets to
descrlbe her protagonist "a beautiful woman", "a wonderful
mother", "a cook for the angels", a marvellous belng, all
warmth and kindness, wlth not a fault In her" (SBD 17)