| I argue that there was a movement amongst twentieth-century Indian and Irish authors who
sought to examine the constructed connections between motherhood and their new nation and, as
a result, highlight harmful depictions of motherhood by revealing discrepancies between
nationalist images of motherhood and mothers' lived experiences. Through my analysis of post1922 matrifocal novels by Irish authors Jennifer Johnston, Claire Kilroy, and Anne Enright, I
argue that these authors address taboo topics such as “maternal abandonment” while addressing
the “illusion” of motherhood. These authors, while certainly not condoning “maternal
abandonment,” address some of the history that has surrounded acts of “maternal abandonment”
and, overall, how an Irish mother performs motherhood in a postcolonial country. Building upon
Elaine Tuttle Hansen’s discussion of the literary trope, the mother without child, my analysis
shows how many Irish authors address the complex history of motherhood in Ireland and how
motherhood has been influenced by the iconography of Mother Ireland. In later chapters, I turn
my attention toward Indian fiction and analyze the representation of motherhood in Arundhati
Roy’s novels, The God of Small Things and The Ministry of Utmost Happiness. I analyze Roy’s
intertextual references to show how she uses intertextuality as a tool to challenge the
iconography of Mother India, as constructed by nineteenth and twentieth-century Indian
nationalists. I argue that Roy uses intertextuality not only by employing epigraphs, but by
referencing fairy tales to provide an alternative narrative that challenges nationalist narratives of
motherhood and maternal abandonment. Roy reveals the political, economic, cultural, and
patriarchal systems involved in a mother’s decision to “abandon” her baby—an insight that isn’t
always afforded in children’s literature and fairy tales. Chapter four builds upon previous chapters and outlines a feminist and contemplative pedagogical approach for teaching a collegelevel thematic course that focuses on the maternal in contemporary postcolonial texts. I conclude
with a call for more postcolonial literature scholars to explore the representation of the maternal
in post-1922 postcolonial novels. Considering the maternal in postcolonial novels is vital
because of how the postcolonial context highlights the interactions between the maternal and the
new independent nation.
Key Words: Postcolonialism, Motherhood, Literature, India, Ireland, Abandonment |