What Makes A Mother?

The last succession of frames in the chapter “The Ordinary Devoted Mother” contains a dizzying array of images, texts, and emotions. In previous frames the reader is able to easily flow through the novel reading left to right. However, these particular frames force the reader to read each frame several times in order to glean the full story.

In addition, the author helps the reader understand the selfishness of the mother when the reader finds out she have stole the Persian Carpet “several months before” (230) the divorce and puts the blame on Ilya, the poor blind man. Furthermore, the visit of the children is supposed to signal a fresh start for the family. The mother even emphasizes she wants the girls to come “live with [them]” (229). Yet again, even if they meet in order to reunite, characterized by a situational irony, they see themselves separated because of her mother selfish decisions.

Becoming a mother is one of the most difficult, yet most satisfying tasks I have ever accomplished. I have shed many tears of joy and frustration along the way. I have learned so much about myself as an individual, as well as my beliefs. Becoming a mother made me realize what is really important in life, while some days will be better than others, without a doubt my children will always have me wrapped around their fingers.

Neither child has an interest in the work of their parent of the same gender; Laird runs off to play instead of helping with the foxes, and the narrator escapes from the kitchen the first chance she gets (Munro 495). Later in the story, however, Laird begins to take an interest in the men’s work of hunting and killing the horse, and the narrator, while not yet embracing the work of her mother, is disengaging herself from her father’s work and turning toward the more feminine work of decorating her room. Neither of them sing songs anymore, even though the narrator continued to enjoy it, Laird said it “sounded silly,” so she stopped (Munro 501); this is an example of both Laird becoming more masculine, because he no longer wants to take part in frivolous things such as singing “Jingle Bells” at night, and the narrator becoming more feminine, because she so easily bows to her brother’s opinion. Laird has started to accept the role of “leader” instead of just being “young and obedient,” (Munro 499) and the narrator is taking other people’s opinions into consideration when deciding her actions, instead of just doing whatever she wants to do.

Throughout her childhood, Jeannette is faced with instability. Her parents had a very unique style that could be classified as “hands off” parenting. For example, Rose tells Jeanette that “If you don’t want to sink you better learn to swim… That’s one lesson that every parent needs to teach their child” (Walls 137). Instead of growing up in a traditional house, Jeannette and her family constantly moved from town to town. When her mother got bored, or her father got in too many bar fights, Jeannette was forced to pick up her life and move to another small desert town. Due to her nomadic lifestyle, Jeannette refrained from establishing deep friendships amongst her school and

In New York, Jeannette seems hardened when she effectively ignores her mother’s scrounging for food. Thus, there is a role reversal between Jeannette and Rosemary. As Duckworth says of gritty people: “when you look at healthy and successful and giving people, they are extraordinarily meta-cognitive” (Scelfo, New York Times). Indeed, Jeannette is metacognitive; after all, she wrote this book about her own upbringing and present life, but she is not “giving” and neither were her parents. If Jeannette’s drive was due to grit, one certainly must question what her successes were. She achieved her “singularly important goal,” but lacks successful interpersonal relationships having failed to help her family. It seems Jeannette has not changed, but simply grown further into her parents lessons and roles. Like Rosemary, she does not give. Like Rex, she has high ambitions. Granted, without the abuse of alcohol, Jeannette is able to hold a job, which may be a result of witnessing alcohol’s effect on her father. That positive effect, however, is the result of observation, not Rex’s parenting. The effect of the laissez-faire parenting style was the self-reliant ability to flee to New York and do as she pleased, but the neglectful

Adjusting the floral pillows around her, she proceeds to describe what her life was like as a kid. Growing up in Riverside, California, her family had six kids and two loving parents. Being the middle child, she tells me, she could “hang out with the older girls and do older girl stuff” or “with the little kids

Mari lived in a small city apartment with her mother and father, who both did their share of care. Mari had a great deal of toys, and social interaction with her parents as well as in a “Mommy and Me” class. Mari spent all of her time indoors, and engaged in mostly individual play while she was at home. The last family that was observed was that of Hattie from San Francisco, California. Hattie also had a great deal of toys and attention from her mother and

Ideals of American womanhood between the time of the American Revolution and the start of the Civil War were constantly shifting. The country was founded with the everlasting ideals of economic opportunity, equality, and liberty for all, and compared to Great Britain after independence, America had greater religious freedom and social mobility. In spite of this, numerous groups were excluded from the full extent of these rights and privileges- especially women. After the American Revolution a belief regarding the roles of women emerged and came to be known as republican motherhood, which centered around the belief that women had the primary responsibility of raising their children to uphold the values of republicanism so they could be valuable members of the newly formed American republic. A complementing set of beliefs were instilled into American society between the period of 1820 to 1860, the cult of domesticity, which asserted that women were solely to serve as wives, mothers, and housekeepers who were concerned with only domestic affairs. While the principles brought forth by the cult of domesticity and the ideas of republican motherhood were accepted by many, much of what they embodied was unachievable for women of lower economic standing due to social oppression that handicapped their opportunities, especially blacks who were often separated from their families due to the institution

As women continue to struggle for equality in today's society, there is an ever growing notion born out of patriarchal ideology, that a mother has the sole responsibility of caring for and nurturing her children. In the somewhat jocular but pragmatic story “Bad Mother” by Ayelet Waldman (2010) she points to the imbalance between societal expectations of mothers and fathers when she comments:

All she can care about is her husband Connie and can act teenage-ish at times. But once she’s pregnant, that changes a little as their journey continues to California. “...she is all secrets now she is pregnant, secrets and little silences that seemed to have meanings. She is pleased with herself, and complains about things that don't really matter” ( Steinbeck 52) Throughout the journey, she sometimes helps her mother with cooking, cleaning, and other chores that her mom asks her to do.

erland incorporates more fundamentals of Berry’s authentic economy through the sacred practice of motherhood that the Herlandians articulate throughout the story. Berry asserts that an authentic economy incorporates economic virtues of “honesty, thrift, care, good work, generosity, and imagination, from which we have compassion” (Berry 475). These values are essential in having a sustainable economy. Herland exemplifies these compassionate and caring values through their motherhood practices. The ability of the Herland women to conceive asexually leads them to see motherhood as the central aspect of their beings which is their greatest duty and their greatest honor.

The novel begins with the mother ignorant to modern society. Junior emphasizes this. "No one had ever taught her anything. She was an orphan at six months"(23). "At the age of thirteen, she was married off to a man rolling in money and in morality whom she had never seen. He would have been the age of

Mercedes Ruehl, an Oscar and Tony Award-winning actress, once claims, ”Nature chooses who will be transgender; individuals don't choose this.” Janet Mock is a natural-born girl, but God puts her in the wrong frame. Society and her family should not blame her to be a transgender youth. People should give respect and support for those who suffer from the trouble to identity themselves. However, her childhood experiences with finding and expressing her gender identity is not going smoothly.

Up until recently, there was an assumption that this was not a choice for women whether to have a family, it was an understanding that we would. For those of us who chose not to, we faced unfair judgment from family, friends, and other women because we violated gender-specific expectations. Even if our reasons were solely economic based on having enough income before having children, the expectations remained unmovable. Despite these unwritten rules, my defiance prevailed as I relied on logic and common sense to decide only to have children when I had the resources to support this investment in a human life. Motherhood was a serious, life-changing, and long-term decision. When women see friends and our own mothers struggling to make ends meet because of the loss of the primary earner through death,