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the problematics of motherhood in twentieth century women's fiction

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54<br />

she does 1ntO ownership <strong>of</strong> humans by slave-owners. She<br />

however underscores <strong>the</strong> difference between <strong>the</strong> two -- <strong>the</strong><br />

former meant for betterment whlle <strong>the</strong> latter a degradation<br />

<strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> owned. Seen <strong>in</strong> thls light, <strong>the</strong> question is rendered<br />

even more complex.<br />

2.2.3.7. Beloved is <strong>in</strong> a way rem<strong>in</strong>iscent <strong>of</strong> Harriet Beecher<br />

Stowe's Uncle Tom'a Cab<strong>in</strong> written more than a <strong>century</strong><br />

earller Both <strong>the</strong>se slave narratives underscore that while<br />

<strong>the</strong> male slaves' search for freedom meant reclaim<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong>rr<br />

manhood, <strong>women's</strong> ma<strong>in</strong> concern was to save <strong>the</strong>lr children and<br />

retaln control over <strong>the</strong>lr reproductive power Morrlson<br />

szlrs a delzcate lssue -- that <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> rlght <strong>of</strong> possession <strong>of</strong><br />

a mo<strong>the</strong>r over her chlld, but does not provlde any clear cut<br />

solutlon Unlike her o<strong>the</strong>r novels, <strong>in</strong> Beloved, <strong>the</strong> lssue is<br />

not closed Morrlson however accornpllshes what she had set<br />

Out ta do- makxng tte sllenced black woman speak out her /<br />

story which hls / story had neglected By focuss<strong>in</strong>g on what<br />

earller slave-narratives had ornltted, Toni Morrlson writes a<br />

maternal hlstory <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Afro-Amerlcan woman, she wrlces<br />

"what has been stolen and cannot be wrltten -- mo<strong>the</strong>r's<br />

mllk .. She becomes an agent <strong>of</strong> ~nvlslbllity, what Clxous<br />

Calls wrltlng <strong>in</strong> white <strong>in</strong>k" (Llsclo 1992 45)<br />

2.2.4. In Shashi Deshpande and Allce Walker, <strong>the</strong> image <strong>of</strong><br />

<strong>the</strong> 'fem<strong>in</strong>lne' mo<strong>the</strong>r emerges through confrontation with her

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