the problematics of motherhood in twentieth century women's fiction

sexually knowledgeable woman of the world, and she is also
the heallng mother
4 1
Although Kate more readlly accepts the
flrst role, she finds that Jeffrey's illness brings out the
maternal rather than the sexual in her
hard not to be motherly to hlm,
"love-woman" (SBD
Though she trles
she 1s unable to be a
96) to a man young enough to be her son
Playing mother to a slck man not her son enables Kate to
assess her role as mother to her own children, she comes to
the conclusion that motherhood becomes an obsessive fusslng
rather than a lovlng concern when lt 1s carrled beyond the
needs of those who are mothered
2.2.1.6. The 'feminine' slde of Kate, however, Lesslng
sketches with an ironlc tlnge
character 1s portrayed as a soclal caricature
Kate's shallowness of
Kate Brown glves the reader llttle to care about,
her life, house and family are cardboard cutouts,llke
illustrations from an advert~sement --
stereotypes so banal they are satirlc (Cederscrom
1990 1351
Even her lob at Global Foods, which could mean a meaningful
move from the restricted conflnes of the home to a wlder
soclal circle, 1s satlrlsed, sketched In bold, farclcal
outlines
Easlly manipulated here as she was at home, she
falls into whatever role the organizers expect from her --
in addltlon to her role as translator, she plays mother to
the guests, Unlike Martha Quest of Children of Violence