the problematics of motherhood in twentieth century women's fiction

lnwlcation of the ability to relate to others, to live and
thlnk through others. A mother is expected to negate her
individuality; self-realization and self understanding are
irrelevant for the mother. Women have been told that thelr
~ntellectual or creative aspirations are inappropriate,
~nconsequential or scandalous, an attempt to become llke men
or to escape from the tasks of childbearing and rearing
Career women are considered the "bad guys", "castrating
females" and "deviants"
6 1
The dependent, femln~ne, home-
centered housewife 1s the one who receives the accolade, the
women who insist on pursuing thelr rnterests, who leave the
home to take up jobs are severely criticized
The mother 1s
not supposed to have interests of her own -- the interests
of the mother and child are supposed to be den tical. She,
therefore, has to develop extreme willingness to sacrlflce.
El~sabeth Badlnter indicates that 'feminine nature',
synonymous with all the characterlstics of the 'model
mother' or 'feminlne mother' presupposes certaln 'qualltles'
ln the mother. passlvlty, a weak ego or sense of self,
renunclatlon of active alms, interests of one's own to live
through others, and incapac~ty for abstract thought.
Adrlenne Rlch puts forth a serles of "unexamlned
assumptions" that femlnlne motherhood encompasses.
A "nat,Jralv mother is a person without further
identity, one who can flnd her chief gratification
In being all day with small children, living at a
pace zuned to theirs, that the isolatlon of