Defining motherhood: The plight of the non-traditional mother in multi-ethnic American women's literature.

摘要

This project will focus on the multi-ethnic American mother in the mid-to-late twentieth century and where she fits into contemporary American society. I will be taking a Cultural Feminist/Historical approach to motherhood and the mother figure in multi-ethnic American families. This approach will allow me to use a feminist lens and relevant historical context to consider how the "traditional" mother or "ideal" mother figure has become a model for how mainstream society thinks the mother figure should be. Attention to this model will demonstrate how the non-traditional, ethnic mother breaks this mold the implications and repercussions of her inability to achieve the golden standard. I will use this lens combined with a cultural feminist approach to look at the literary works that I have chosen: Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye (1970), Sula (1974) and Tar Baby (1981); Alice Walker's The Color Purple (1982); Maxine Hong Kingston's The Woman Warrior (1975); Ann Petry's The Street (1946) and Sandra Cisneros' House on Mango Street (1987).;For the project, I intend to delve into multi-ethnic motherhood to articulate how these mothers challenge and often fail when trying to attain society's model of white, middle class motherhood. Each of the literary mother characters that I explore in this project embodies strength, yet often has the inability to rise above adversity that is created by this model. I will show that although she exemplifies a different "model" of motherhood, she is set up for failures by a society who places unrealistic expectations on women of color.;The historical contextualization and feminist cultural analysis of the "ideal" mother in society will help me establish and create a framework to answer the following questions: "How does multi-ethnic motherhood challenge the ideals set by American society and do these ideals set her up for failure?" Also, "What influence has the multi-ethnic mother made on the American family, literature, and society in the late twentieth century; and what does this impact say about motherhood in general?"