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Analyzing Mother Roles in Novels by Twentieth-Century United States

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Analyzing Mother Roles in Novels by Twentieth-Century United States View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Louisiana State University Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 2004 Mothering modes: analyzing mother roles in novels by twentieth-century United States women writers Preselfannie Whitfield cDM aniels Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations Part of the English Language and Literature Commons Recommended Citation McDaniels, Preselfannie Whitfield, "Mothering modes: analyzing mother roles in novels by twentieth-century United States women writers" (2004). LSU Doctoral Dissertations. 1825. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations/1825 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized graduate school editor of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please [email protected]. MOTHERING MODES: ANALYZING MOTHER ROLES IN NOVELS BY TWENTIETH-CENTURY UNITED STATES WOMEN WRITERS A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in The Department of English by Preselfannie W. McDaniels B.A., Jackson State University, 1992 M.A., Mississippi College, 1994 May 2004 Acknowledgements I wish to thank my parents, Benjamin and Linda Whitfield, for their love, encouragement, inspiration, support, and love of the Lord. Together, they are the solid foundation on which I was and am still able to stand. I would truly like to thank my husband, Johnnie McDaniels, for his monumental love, saintly patience, undying motivation, editing skills, childcare knowledge, and household management. He must have originated in some truly ethereal space. I would also like to thank my family, especially my sister Benetta Whitfield and my best friend Aria Elise Thorns, for their excitement about my pursuit of this degree and their inquiries along the way. Certainly, this project would not have been completed without the undying support and effective guidance of Dr. Michelle Massé, my major professor, who is truly a patient and motivating spirit. Thanks goes to my insightful committee members Drs. Richard Moreland, Dana Williams, Nghana T. Lewis, and John Lowe (who is also my teaching mentor and my dear friend). I am so thankful for those who gave their time to read and edit my work: Angela Robinson, C. Leigh McInnis (both have been in my life since my undergraduate days), Drs. Wanda Morgan, and Ladrica Menson Furr (who is also my motivator and my friend). At Jackson State, I would like to thank Herd Graves, Kennith Patterson (deceased), Drs. Inez R. Morris Chambers, Iely G. Mohamed, Doris O. Ginn, B. Dilla Buckner, Sakinah Rashied, Sarah Banks and Loria Brown and my students for their support and encouragement. Definitely, I must thank Drs. Marie O’Banner-Jackson, Randall G. Patterson, Toni A. H. McNaron, Maria L. A. Harvey, and Annie J. Cistrunk, who have wonderfully mentored my mind since the day I met them. I simply cannot ii forget the sister-friends who have been there for me throughout this undertaking: Betty Johnson, Shalonda Simoneax, Hazel Jenkins, Elizabeth Davis, Mattie Stevens, Doris Smith, Cenovia Burns, Ladonna Gulley, Lisa Raggs, Keena Richard, Drs. Carla Gray, Tara Green, Stephanie Hall, LaJuan Simpson, and my cousins Sanderia Smith, MFA, and Jean Camille Hall, ABD. Along this winding road of pursuit, I have made contact with many helpful librarians and so many other significant people who have warmed my spirit in some way. I thank God for them, and I thank Him for you all. iii Table of Contents Acknowledgements………………………………………………………………………..ii Abstract……………………………………………………………………………………v Introduction: Mothering Modes: A Survey of the Different Perspectives on Mothering…………………………...………………………………….1 Feminist Perspectives on Mothering……………………………...6 Feminist Women of Color Perspectives on Mothering………….14 Historical-Political Perspectives on Mothering………………….18 Sociological and Psychological Perspectives on Mothering…….23 Literary Perspectives on Mothering: An Outline of Chapters…..27 Chapter 1 Mothering as Dilemma in Dorothy Allison’s Bastard Out of Carolina and Toni Morrison’s Beloved….…….……….………………………….32 2 Mothering as Difficulty in Dorothy West’s The Wedding and Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon.……………………………………..……..83 3 Mothering Understood in Amy Tan’s The Kitchen God’s Wife and Christina García’s Dreaming in Cuban………………….……………..121 4 Mothering as Transition in Betty Smith’s A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and Paule Marshall’s Brown Girl, Brownstones……………….………158 Conclusion: Mothering in Retrospect…..…………………..……………………….…191 Notes……………………………………………………………………………………206 Works Cited…………………………………………………………………………….209 Vita……………………………………………………………………………………...218 iv Abstract For this dissertation, the following novels have been chosen as examples of the many issues that are involved in mothering in United States society: Chapter 1: Dorothy Allison’s Bastard Out of Carolina and Toni Morrison’s Beloved, Chapter 2: Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon and Dorothy West’s The Wedding, Chapter 3: Amy Tan’s The Kitchen God’s Wife and Christina García’s Dreaming in Cuban, and Chapter 4: Betty Smith’s A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and Paule Marshall’s Brown Girl, Brownstones. For this study, the term “mothering” is specifically related to the rearing of children by the female parent. Rearing is defined as the bringing up of a child to maturity and at least to the legal age of eighteen. In “Mothers at Work: Representations of Maternal Practice in Literature” (2000), Elizabeth Bourque Johnson examines the following definition of mothering: “Mothering is a job, a kind of work. The word mother may also indicate a relationship or a title or a way of caring, but primarily a mother is a worker, a person who takes responsibility for the care and development of a child” (22). In this dissertation, I argue that oppressive circumstances in the examples in these novels create similar coping strategies for the mother characters, especially when mothering daughters. In addition and contrary to what some might believe, those coping strategies are not confined exclusively to particular cultural groups. The chapters of this study show how different mothers who rear children under different negative circumstances may benefit from similar coping strategies, and they examine these coping strategies from the least to the greatest examples of their success. v Introduction: Mothering Modes: A Survey of the Different Perspectives on Mothering Mothering is one of the most powerful acts that one can perform. When one chooses the position of mother, one chooses to give a large percentage of one’s life to the process of producing, guiding, and managing others’ lives. Mothering in United States society, as well as in most other countries, means mothering in a male-dominated society, which has historically and does systematically marginalize (limit or discriminate against) women and other minorities. Therefore, when scholars seek to analyze the multi-faceted act of mothering, they must explore the many forces that positively and/or negatively influence whether mothers will be constructive or destructive in the lives they choose to manage: their own lives and the lives of their children. For the literary theorist, fiction can provide interesting examples for gauging the significance of these and many other debatable issues. For this study, the following novels have been chosen as examples of the many issues that are involved in mothering in United States society: Chapter 1: Dorothy Allison’s Bastard Out of Carolina and Toni Morrison’s Beloved, Chapter 2: Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon and Dorothy West’s The Wedding, Chapter 3: Amy Tan’s The Kitchen God’s Wife and Christina García’s Dreaming in Cuban, and Chapter 4: Betty Smith’s A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and Paule Marshall’s Brown Girl, Brownstones. For this study, the term “mothering” is specifically related to the rearing of children by the female parent. Rearing is defined as the bringing up of a child to maturity and at least to the legal age of eighteen. In “Mothers at Work: Representations of Maternal Practice in Literature” (2000), Elizabeth Bourque Johnson examines the following definition of mothering: “Mothering is a job, a kind of work. The word mother may also indicate a relationship or a title or a way of caring, but primarily a mother is a worker, a person who takes 1 responsibility for the care and development of a child” (22). In this dissertation, I argue that oppressive circumstances in these novels create similar coping strategies for the mother characters, especially when mothering daughters. In addition and contrary to what some might believe, those coping strategies are not confined exclusively to particular cultural groups. The chapters of this study show how different mothers who rear children under different negative circumstances may benefit from similar coping strategies, and they examine these coping strategies from the least to the greatest examples of their success. By oppressive circumstances, I refer to those burdensome forces that overwhelm the body, mind, and spirit and that complicate the act of mothering, usually rendering one helpless, inactive, and/or incapable.
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