• The Mother Without an Identity

    Author(s):
    Mallory DeGregori (see profile)
    Date:
    2016
    Group(s):
    TC Women’s and Gender Studies, TM Literary Criticism
    Subject(s):
    American literature
    Item Type:
    Essay
    Tag(s):
    gender, gothic literature, gothic mothers, gothic south
    Permanent URL:
    http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/M6731Q
    Abstract:
    Within Gothic Literature the identity of the mother causes women to lose their own identity. For the mothers in Beloved, “Everything That Rises Must Converge”, and “Greenleaf” their identity of themselves is lost as they identity as being the mother of their children rather than their own individual person. Some gothic mothers are absent mothers without an identity so that the narrative and protagonist is free of an overprotective figure that will prevent chaos from occurring to the protagonist. The mothers in “The River” and “A Temple of the Holy Ghost” are absent mothers as their lack of presence in the text allows for chaos to take the narrative and the protagonist to a revelation. For the mothers in “Clytie”, “The Ballad of the Sad Café”, and “A Rose for Emily” the absent mother is without an identity because the mother needs to remain absent in order for the narrative to take place. The mothers within these texts are all without an identity so that they can remain the mother who is either overprotective and needs to be killed off in order for a child’s revelation to take place or is already dead so that the revelation can come forth. Without the mother the child is thrust into the world of reality and into a world of guilt and sorrow.
    Metadata:
    xml
    Status:
    Published
    License:
    All Rights Reserved
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