Self-Love In The Story Of Malinche By Norma Alarc�n

One of the world’s toughest jobs is being a mother. Living in world where there’s many harmful things out there and nothing is predictable, it’s difficult to look out for one’s wellbeing, let alone another person’s. Growing up, my mother would watch me as I played outside because she knew that there were a lot of things that could happen to me, so she felt as though it was her job to protect me from those misfortunes. One could only imagine the hardships affiliated with being a mother during enslavement. The thought of not having complete control over what happens to one’s child is enough to make any woman go to extremes. Underground, a show that focus on several enslaved African Americans who desperately seeks a life of freedom, has one character

Losing a parent is presumably an unthinkable concept for those lucky to have them alive, but sometimes the title of “parent” dies long before a body is placed in the ground. Toi Derricotte author of “Beginning Dialogues” unfortunately had to experience both the death of her mother’s title of “parent”, as well as her literal death. Derricotte’s parents had divorced when she was eighteen, and her father did not seem to play much of a role in her life; she was left to be raised by her mentally abusive mother. Her mother also had a tough road to walk growing up, having to face and deal with brutal issues like racism and bulling. Persevering through those tough times may be the underlining reason behind Derricotte’s mother’s negativity and abuse towards her daughter. Perhaps she just grew a thick skin at a very young age and had never learned how to feel, accept, or administer love. Derricotte’s had said: “She told me all my life she loved me, as if she completely forgot the hundred slights, humiliations, threats, and insinuations. Of course she loved me;

“Incidents in the Life of a Slave” by Harriet Jacobs is an autobiographical narrative. It gives us a look inside in how the lives of slave women were, the troubles they faced and how they met them, especially the sexual abuses they suffered by their masters. She tells us how her master had the “right” to impregnate the slave and then that child would have to follow in its mother’s life as a slave. It took a lot of courage to stand

Poverty and hardship are shown to create vulnerability in female characters, particularly the female servants, allowing powerful men to manipulate and sexually abuse them. Kent illustrates how poverty perpetuates maltreatment and abuse in a society like Burial Rites using the characters of Agnes’ mother Ingveldur and Agnes. Agnes’ mother is forced to make invidious choices as her children are “lugged along” from farm to farm, where she is sexually exploited by her employers. In spite of these circumstances, Agnes’ mother is commonly referred to as a whore in their society which abhors female promiscuity yet disregards male promiscuity as a harmless character trait; as in the case of Natan, who is merely “indiscreet” despite all his philandering. Born into poverty, Agnes experiences similar sexual coercion and manipulation from her “masters” and yet is labelled “a woman who is loose with her emotions and looser with her morals”. The severe poverty of Agnes is explicitly demonstrated to the reader by Kent through the intertextual reference of her entire belongings - a very dismal, piteous list to be “sold if a decent offer is presented”. Furthermore, Kent contrasts the situation of Agnes, a “landless workmaid raised on a porridge of moss and poverty”, to the comparative security Steina has experienced using a rhetorical question from

In Arlie Russell Hochschild’s, “Love and Gold,” she depicts the economic influences that turn choices of mothers in Third World countries into a precondition. Similarly, in Toni Morrison’s, Sula, a recurring theme of the struggle between independence, the ability to choose, and doing what’s best for others, or coerced decisions, is imminent throughout the entire novel and revolved around the main character, Sula. Often times the factor that weighs down choice is responsibility. Choices are seemingly infinite until you factor in what choices will affect which people and why. Both mothers and caregivers have to put their dependent before themselves, therefore limiting their

The author agrees with the idea of women as victims through the characterisation of women in the short story. The women are portrayed as helpless to the torment inflicted upon them by the boy in the story. This positions readers to feel sympathy for the women but also think of the world outside the text in which women are also seen as inferior to men. “Each season provided him new ways of frightening the little girls who sat in front of him or behind him”. This statement shows that the boy’s primary target were the girls who sat next to him. This supports the tradition idea of women as the victims and compels readers to see that the women in the text are treated more or less the same as the women in the outside world. Characterisation has been used by the author to reinforce the traditional idea of women as the helpless victims.

She was also oppressed psychologically because she was restricted and could not live the life she wanted even though they were living in a free country. She eventually escaped and left behind the only product of their marriage which she really loved – her son. This must be a hard decision for a mother to leave her child behind, but we can say that she is not entirely irresponsible. This is because chances of her child growing up normally like his peers would be unlikely if they were to be in hiding everyday. By leaving her son behind, the wife could ensure that he would be taken care of, at least financially, by her husband. She could not guarantee that for her child given the circumstances she would be facing by escaping from her husband. So, this point here reinforces Feminist criticism. However, there is also a quote in the story which undermines Feminist criticism. “She’d been out for her evening walk, she took one every day after he got back from the office. Yes, yes, always alone, she said that was her time for herself”. Here, we can see that the wife was allowed to go for a walk every evening. She was not really restricted to be at home 24/7. This point here then undermines Feminist criticism.

Yet another example of Sethe’s dependence on her own strength is the account of Sethe’s own escape from “the grips of slavery in order to protect her children from what Morrison describes as School teacher’s brutal empire”.(196) Sethe is married by fourteen and is a mother by fifteen; but she is older and pregnant with her last child before she has to become superior protector of her children. Twenty-eight days after being a free woman, Sethe is forced to make the ultimate sacrifice as a mother. Although she is jailed as a murderer, her attempt to kill her four children is done so that her children would never know the life of a slave, so they would never be acquainted with “what Baby Suggs died of, what Ella knew, what Stamp saw and what

         Care of the mother for the child's future character formation, have a decisive role.  The slaves don‘t know their mother, so they don’t get good care. Slaves don’t have a sense of identity for self because they don‘t know their birthday. It is easy to hurt them as a person's sense of belonging. Slaves needs their mothers to be their directors.

In Claudia Llosa’s The Milk of Sorrow, a girl from the Andes named Fausta has an odd disease contracted from her mother’s milk. Because her mother was raped and tortured during the Peruvian Civil War with Fausta in her womb, the mother’s milk is contaminated with the disease, according to the local people. This condition causes symptoms such as rarely leaving one’s home by will, avoiding men, rarely speaking, and walking close to the walls of houses for fear of having one’s soul stolen. In the film, Fausta undergoes a journey to empower herself to cure this disease and create a voice for herself. Through the use of central recurring symbols, Fausta’s actions, and the interactions of the people around her, the film suggests that historical trauma, if left unchecked, can negatively influence the person with trauma, the people around them, and even generations to come.

Set in post-colonial Nigeria, Purple Hibiscus follows the life of Kambili and Mama in a developing society where women have less rights than their male counterparts. Women are viewed as lesser beings than men and are criticized for nearly every little thing. It is taboo for women not to marry, to have children but no husband, and for them to be independent. Women are expected to be classy, womanly, and to serve their husbands, listening closely to their every demand. Under this definition, Mama is the “perfect” woman, the “good” woman. She tolerates Papa’s violent outbursts and supports his business ventures. She is soft-spoken and is kind to her children, and we never see her raise her voice at Kambili and Jaja. However, these expectations cause her to suffer, as she fears the judgement of others. She stays with Papa, not because she loves him, but because of his influence and the vicious gossip of the village people. Despite his constant abuse, she does not leave him because of unspoken “rules” that discourage women from divorcing their husbands: “‘Where would I go if I leave Eugene?’ [Mama said]. ‘Tell me, where would I go?’” (250). The lack of respect and constant ridicule women are subject to deter them from standing up to their oppressors and traps them in this continuous cycle of abuse and terror. Even if Mama did leave Papa, she would be considered less womanly and less worthy of

The mother begins to rebel against tradition by taking an active role in educating and freeing herself. Through her radio, telephone and trips out with her sons she develops her own opinions about the world, the war, and the domination and seclusion of woman. She loses her innocence as a result to her new knowledge and experience.

Looking at the female slave as a mother, we find that she fetishizes her relationship with her child. Fueling her state of distortion further, we suggest that the mother believes her infant son’s existence is another mistakes. Boldly, the mother takes on the unprecedented role of God and makes a multitude of distasteful decisions about her infant son. Like deeming his fair skin unbearable, predicting that as an adult he will claim a “master-right” over black slaves, and finally ending his life. By all accounts, the mother is unable to make sensible decisions about anything.

There is evidence of physical, mental, psychological abuse described from an early age. An alcoholic Father, controlling Mother responsible for a series of abortions made against the will of Malaika. A husband who after physically abusing her, once separated becomes a vicuous stalker inducing a consistent fear. At the central part of the book, a man walks into Malaika's life, a charming man with an accent, a man who seemed foreign to her in many ways, he was kind to her, offered a sanctuary away from her tyrannical husband and family, a role model for her two daughters in the true meaning of a “Father”. It is no surprise to the reader when this knight in shining armour turns out to be too good to be true.

In Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour”, Louise Mallard is caught in a cold marriage and a constrictive house. The same goes for Sarah Penn in Mary Wilkins Freeman “The Revolt of “Mother.’” Despite the fact that both stories share the topics of imprisonment and control, physically and inwardly, the ladies in the stories have diverse responses to their circumstances. Sarah battles the confinements without holding back, taking her opportunity, while Mrs. Mallard adopts a motionless strategy and is just liberated through the death of Mr. Mallard.