Free Essays - Memories and Motherhood in Landscape for a Good Woman :: Landscape for a Good Woman Essays

Memories and maternity in Landscape for a Good Woman    The relevance and ulterior interpretation of memories as they relate to ones desire to mother . . . refusal to reproduce oneself is a refusal to perpetuate what one is, that is, the way one understands oneself to be in the neighborly world. -- pg. 84 In reading Carolyn Kay Steedmans Landscape for a Good Woman, 2 themes took center stage Memories and Motherhood. As the book unfolds Steedman repeatedly points out that childishness memories are used by individuals for various purposes rather than objective recollections henpecked by facts, she proposes that they are more subjective in nature, likely to metamorphose with time or as circumstances dictate. Thus, fact has very precise relevance, taking a post seat to the history we create for ourselves. . . . childishness is a kind of history, the continually reworked and re-used personal history that lies at the nubble of each present -- pg. 128 Though she exam ined sociological, political, economic and psychoanalytic issues, one eyeshot Steedman fails to address is the biological, as in the so-called biological clock. Frankly, her subscriber line may benefit from this phenomena. Though women in their teens and early twenties frequently express an emphatic lack of desire for children, citing specifics of their personal histories to support these decisions, geezerhood later the same memories are given an opportunity to soften, recede or even disappear altogether. Thus, in light of this altered history, the individual in question feels more at ease reassessing her choices (in light of these memories) and considering motherhood a viable alternative. We all return to memories and dreams . . . again and again the story we see to it of our own life is reshaped around them. But the point doesnt lie there, back in the past, back in the lost time at which they happened the only when point lies in interpretation. -- pg. 5 Another point Stee dman only touches on lightly is her sisters interpretation of the past. Personally, I find it fascinating to discuss childhood events with siblings who participated in the same events. The significance of seemingly unrelated experiences, occurring after the subprogram in question, together with personal feelings, frequently cause siblings recollections of the same events to differ. In light of Steedmans work, it is easier now to understand how children, raised by the same parents, offered the same opportunities and sharing the same historical events, may end up with radically different memories.