The Joys Of Motherhood Analysis

The poem “The Mother” written by Gwendolyn Brooks in 1945, is a poem that focuses on the immeasurable losses a woman experiences after having an abortion. The poems free verse style has a mournful tone that captures the vast emotions a mother goes through trying to cope with the choices she has made. The author writes each stanza of the poem using a different style, and point of view, with subtle metaphors to express the speaker’s deep struggle as she copes with her abortions. The poem begins with, “Abortions will not let you forget” (Brooks 1), the first line of the poem uses personification to capture your attention. The title of the poem has the reader’s mindset centered around motherhood, but the author’s expertise with the opening line, immediately shifts your view to the actual theme of the poem. In this first line the speaker is telling you directly, you will never forget having an abortion. Brooks utilizes the speaker of the poem, to convey that this mother is pleading for forgiveness from the children she chose not to have.

With the beginning of the 1980's came the introduction of a debt crisis. This put extraordinary financial strain on a community that prided itself on self-reliance and providing all that ones' family needs through farming. However, with the added financial burden, farming as a sole means of survival was not a viable solution. Therefore, women were forced to take a much greater role as a provider for the family. They were able to take on this role through "selling agricultural products, and making and selling weavings, pottery, and chichi."

These women, although they lived in a third world country, have the skill and gumption to go into business for themselves, and “be their own boss”. In the United States, more women have the ability

The maternal instinct and family affection is woman's most holy attribute, but if she enters industrial life, that is not enough. She must supplement her family conscience by a social and an industrial conscience. She must widen her family affection to embrace the children of the community. She is wrecking havoc in the sewing-trades, because with the meager equipment sufficient for family life she has entered industrial life (Addams 57).

In this paper I will evaluate two artworks that share the same theme of “motherhood and breastfeeding.” In the last few years, the sexualization of breastfeeding has become a big issue. This is due to people see breast as sexual objects and think that women are being exhibitionist, and are doing it just to flaunt their breasts in public. Breastfeeding mothers are faced with the public criticism as they struggle to breastfeed their child, although it is the most natural and healthy method of feeding. The first artwork is by Mary Cassatt and is titled Mother Rose Nursing her Child. This painting was created in the 1900s and it depicts a woman breastfeeding her child. The second piece is a contemporary portrait created by Catherine Opie titled Self-Portrait Nursing. The portrait depicts a modern mother also nursing her child. When comparing both of these pieces of art I plan to focus on the beauty of motherhood and the bond between mother and child. In this paper I will discuss the social issue of mother’s being criticized for breastfeeding in public. Now more than ever women’s breasts are being overly sexualized when they are not a sexual organ, but in fact a part of their body used to feed another human being.

More directly, Tsurumi states “for the majority of peasant families survival was impossible without women and their work” (Tsurumi, 16). This makes the importance of Japanese women to their households during the period of history prior to the Meiji Era indisputable. Nevertheless, even as familial roles changed during Japan’s shift to a money economy, the support women provided to their families remained steadfast, as the earnings they made at factories were often sent back to their homes to support their families. As the need for women to find jobs that could pay them in cash grew, the potential for women to help support their families, or the ability to reel “for the sake of the nation” attracted women and girls to the first silk reeling mill in Tomioka. Tsurumi affirms this by saying “service to the nation, family economic interest, or a combination of the two brought young women to Tomioka to become part of a proud elite striving both for national goals and for regional prosperity” (Tsurumi, 30). By portraying the act of working for a textile mill as a service to both their families and to their country, Tsurumi furthers the idea that the women of the time were heroes of their era. However, as

Often, the women’s families and children ended up working alongside them in the factories, because of the constant need for cheap labor in the industrial United States of America (Rabinowitz, 2010).

This book shows how as women took on the gender male roles they still managed to food ration and shortages. Women found creative yet effective ways to clothe, feed, and care for their families in the absence of the men.

As industrialization spread in Western Europe, the production of products and goods moved from the household to factories which drastically changed family life. Married women were unable to work unless they left their children and home in someone else’s care. Moreover, middle-class women generally did not leave their homes in order to work. In contrast, the women of Eastern Asia rapidly joined the work force after the introduction of industrialization and made up a gigantic portion of the labor force. This difference is probably due to the fact that the rural women of Eastern Asia were always laborers, and they make up the majority of the female population. Additionally, European women generally preferred domestic labor to laborious tasks. Rural women were offered independence by leaving their homes in order to perform domestic work; they generally sent their earnings to their families or saved it for themselves. Moreover, the European women that participated in the work force were forced to travel long distances and were separated from their families from long hours. Additionally, their wages were significantly lower than that of their male counterparts. Furthermore, women worked under poor conditions and were constantly susceptible to disease. Similarly, the poor women of Eastern Asia sought employment in the cotton and silk industry.

By working in factories, women made money that would support them in later aspects of their lives and proceeded to make their lives better. For example, most of the women used their money to save for their dowries so they could one day marry a richer man ("Daughters"). If a woman came from a farm, she would never have as much to give her husband than a woman who worked and got paid. Some women even used the money they earned to pay for an education to better themselves and have a successful occupation one day with more pay. Additionally, with the money they saved up, the women could enjoy their lives by using their wages to “purchase pretty, store bought clothing” (“Daughters” 8). Lastly, the women could even use the money to support themselves and their families (including children, a husband, and

In past centuries, Latin American women have always been there to fulfill their duties as wives and mothers at home. Women were use to working inside the home while their husbands worked outside of the home. During the 20th century, women around the world started to seek changes for themselves. They wanted to be considered equal to their husbands and wanted the opportunity to obtain a job outside of the home. A decrease in the need for traditional craft workers, such as weavers and sewers, greatly influence the decision for change in women. They were no longer needed to make clothing or prepare food and candy the traditional way. Handmade items were pushed aside for the new and improved “factory-made products” (Murray 158). Latin American women made a living off of selling their handmade items; now they were no longer needed.

"Motherhood is a great honor and privilege, yet it is also synonymous with servant hood. Every day women are called upon to selflessly meet the needs of their families. Whether they are awake at night nursing a baby, spending their time and money on less-than-grateful teenagers, or preparing meals, moms continuously put others before themselves and enjoy doing their jobs as mothers." (Stanley) . According to Betty Rollin 's essay, "Motherhood: Who Needs It?", Rollin argues that mothering, preconceived as a biological necessity, is in fact, a psychological desire. Rollin quotes psychiatrist Dr. Richard Rabkin: "Women don 't need to be mothers any more than they need spaghetti... But if you 're in a world where everyone is eating spaghetti, thinking they need it and want it, you will think so too." (Rollin 102) Although one 's society may have the power to influence his or her eating habits, a mothers desire to have children is an entirely different issue. Many women often want to have children and go through motherhood because of social pressure, to please their spouse, and to be "happy".

Gerald Early, the author of the essay Life with Daughters, describes the hardships of being African American especially when trying to raise two daughters who don’t believe they are beautiful . Early’s purpose is to inform the reader of all the difficulties that black girls face growing up in a society who has defined beauty with the image of a white, skinny blonde. He adopts a bitter tone in order to point out all of the difficulties these girls face in order to appeal to similar feelings and experiences of other African American girls their parents.

The Moms.com negotiation has two roles: Kim Taylor as the buyer for WCHI (Independent television station in Chicago) and Terry Schiller as a syndicated sales representative for Hollyville, Inc. an international multimedia corporation that specializes in producing television shows and motion pictures. On this negotiation I played the role of Kim Taylor.

Baby suggs and Sethe are both the Mother figues in beloved and despite their suffering from slavery they both cared for their children greatly. Baby Suggs and Sethe connected through Motherhood to develop a close bond. They shared the love for their children a bond that all mothers can relate with. Sethe has four children that she loves very much but she could not deal with her past of sweet home. Sethe could not bare for that to happen to her children so she had to save them from the schoolteacher and slavery by trying to kill them. She kills one child whom is referred to as beloved for what is written on her tomb stone, but fails to kill howard buglar, and Denver. Sethe motherly natural instincts caused her