While I, at least at this time, do not have any desires to be a mother, the theme of motherhood in Red Clocks was still able to strike a chord with me. The fictional legislation that outlaws abortion and broken families affects many women, even when it might not be apparent.
The four women in the town all view motherhood extremely differently. For Ro, it's her deepest desire, and does not want to find a husband, wishing to raise a child on her own. Gin was not interested, and put her daughter up for adoption. Mattie (Gin's biological daughter) is pregnant and, as a highschooler with her whole life ahead of her, is not prepared to face motherhood in this time of her life. And Susan is living a life she once thought would be idyllic, and though she loves her children, her husband fails to put in the effort to help her raise them, causing her great distress. A simple solution for two of these women seems obvious at first glance. Mattie could go through with her pregnancy, and Ro could adopt the child, giving Ro what she's always wanted and alleviating the burden of child-rearing from Mattie. Of course, it only seems obvious on the surface, as real life (for lack of a better term, in a fictional story) gets in the way. Of course it would be inappropriate for a teacher to ask her student to give her the child. And Mattie doesn't even want anyone else to find out about her pregnancy, and there's only so long she can keep it a secret. Plus, Mattie deals with a rather personal struggle about the possible future of her child after being adopted- she herself was adopted, and though she lives in a happy home, she wonders why she wasn't able to grow up with her birth parents. The thought of giving that same burden to her child is distressing. It's something that could cross the mind of any mother planning on putting a child up for adoption, but it's such a deeply personal issue to her. Gin is an outsider both in the literal sense, and in the way society expects women to behave. While Ro doesn't want a partner, she wants to be a mother. Mattie is still in school, too young and too estranged from the father of the baby she's caring to take good care of it. Susan is living the "ideal" woman's life, with a husband and children. Gin is simply not interested in having children or a partner. While her lack of a family isn't used to berate her, is the only main character to be estranged from the rest of the town. Not only is she a scary witch, she doesn't live up to our expectations of a woman, and in fact helps other woman fail to do so as well though her helping with terminations. I find Ro and Susan's relationship to be interesting. Both women want part of the life that other has, while making unflattering assumptions on each other's character. Neither knows what the other is going through, and might not even care enough to see anything past envy. Just as the women never see what the others really are like, the reader doesn't either. Each woman is referred to her title exclusively in the chapters centered around her. It takes others to refer to the women by their names in other chapters for us to learn them. Even when we are in the head of these women, they are putting up a facade, we are never given a full picture of who they are at any one moment.
2 Comments
Erik
3/4/2019 06:59:21 pm
Your point on Gin Percival made me me think. Her separation from the town and lack of desire to have a kid separate her from the rest of the characters. This makes her an interesting character for me
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Carly
3/18/2019 09:54:28 am
Your point that Susan and Ro may not want to see the other for their entire existence beyond their own envy of the other's life was something I found really interesting. I think you are definitely onto something with that. Both women seem to be preoccupied with only the aspects of the other's life that they find appealing, never looking into the parts that might be less than ideal. Susan is envious of Ro's independence and lack of accountability to a husband or children, while Ro hates Susan for having had two children while she struggles herself so much. There is a sense of irony in this as they are envious of something the other woman seems to resent about her own life.
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