Responses and Questions

"It may be familiar or even obvious to others, but to me, it's something new and surprising. I never knew that so many women struggled through motherhood until I did all of these readings in class." Seriously. And we're only a week into class. I'm terrified that in like, ten years, if we have a kid, my wife is going to hate me. I would like to read something from the perspective of the mothers of the writers we are reading. These mothers seem to be the archetypal mothers. My guess is that they didn't think too much about their role, and just did it. But maybe I'm wrong, maybe they had the same complaints as this new writer generation, and there was just even more societal pressure to not say anything about it.

I really enjoyed The Yellow Wallpaper. The process of becoming the woman in the wall was extremely (and creepily) engaging. In response to Serena's question about how it relates to motherhood - I think it relates more to womanhood in that time period. It seemed like the author was attacking the characterization that women are weak, that they just ought to bear children, and not think very hard. The other essays we have read seem to share this sentiment, but they also take it a step further. By discussing just how difficult motherhood is, they're saying that, actually, women have to be extremely strong to raise children and not go crazy, and that thinking hard (writing, being creative, etc.) is really helpful in not going crazy, but it makes it even harder to raise children.

I've started wondering what we would be reading if it was customary in our society for fathers to stay home and raise their kids, and the women would work. I think there would be some of the same domestic problems if the men were suddenly doing full days of house work + raising the kids and the women were working + indulging in a few hobbies. However, some of these essays have expressed experiencing a motherly love that seems more like a need and craving for their children than what I would think of as typical parental love. Do men have this same craving? How strong is this craving? Does it have a role in preventing the women-raise-kids / men-work dynamic from being reversed? But a lot of families have parents that both work, and they put their kids in child care. So do not all women have this craving for their kids? Do they have it and just ignore it? How long does it last after giving birth?