Mother Characters Research Articles

Challenging patriarchal motherhood: A critical analysis of fictional mothers in Caryl Phillips’ The Final Passage and The Lost Child

This study explores the literary mother figures in Caryl Phillips’ novels The Final Passage (1985) and The Lost Child (2015) through the critical lens of matricentric feminism, focusing on patriarchal notions of motherhood including normalisation, idealisation, depoliticalisation and naturalisation. Extensive research has been conducted on these novels, but their representations of mother characters have remained relatively under-explored. With the aim of addressing that gap in the literature, we argue that Caryl Phillips problematises idealised, universal and traditional conceptions of motherhood by offering multiple and, particularly, otherised mother figures in these novels. Deconstructing such conceptions of motherhood, he exposes the socio-political and economic inequalities arising from racial discrimination, class inequalities, patriarchal oppression and colonial experiences that affect his characters’ mothering adversely. Through an intersectional reading of the mother characters in these two novels, this study aims to highlight the characters’ complexities and significance, thereby contributing to a more comprehensive understanding of the novels and enriching the discourse surrounding the representation of motherhood in literature and culture. A comparative study of these novels further reveals that they encompass various settings for multiple depictions of motherhood and different stages of imperialism, presenting haunting continuities and discontinuities in different centuries.

KEABSAHAN ẒIHAR SEBAGAI PUJIAN MENURUT PERSEPSI TEUNGKU DAYAH KECAMATAN JULI, BIREUEN

Ẓihar is historically a form of disliking a husband or a form of punishment towards his wife. The wife's status becomes dependent, unclear, she cannot marry someone else, and has no right to claim anything. In this context, the wife feels like she is being bullied and feels psychologically hurt by her husband. Islam then came to reconstruct ẓihar if a husband had already performed zihar on his wife, then at that moment his wife would no longer be halal for him. If the husband wants to cancel his words (ẓihar) then he is charged with paying kafarat (fine) as stated in QS Al-Mujadilah verses 3-4. The problem is when ẓihar as exemplified in fiqh "you are to me like my mother's back" is said by the husband as a form of praise or respect, not the other way around. This happened in the community of Juli District, Bireuen Regency. Based on this phenomenon, a study was carried out on the perception of teungkudayah (Islamic boarding school kiai) regarding the validity of ẓihar, the purpose of which is praise or respect, considering that the Juli sub-district is surrounded by Islamic boarding schools and the community is generally obedient and obedient to teungkudayah. The research method used is a qualitative research method with a juridical-empirical approach. Data was obtained from interviews with teungku dayah from four Islamic boarding schools (purposive sampling results) based on population. The results of the research show that the perception of teungku dayah is that it is haram for husbands who perform zihar in a sharih manner, such as husbands equating their wife's physical parts with their mother's physical parts. However, it is different if the type of pronunciation is used in the context of character, such as a husband who equates his wife's character with his mother's character, especially if the expression is praise or respect then it does not fall into the ẓihar category.

Ibu(isme) dan Film Orde Baru: Representasi Ibu dalam film Jangan Menangis Mama

The representation of women in films is always an interesting topic in Indonesian film studies. This article aims to reveal the representation of women, especially in their identity as mothers in the film Jangan Menangis Mama (Don’t Cry Mommy) was produced in 1977. This film was directed by Sofia WD, a film star, screenwriter, and film producer who works both in the Old Order and the New Order of the Indonesian Film Industry. Based on Roland Barthes' semiotic analysis, this article uncovers two levels of meaning systems, namely denotation and connotation related to the mother's character in the film. The process of interpreting these signs cannot be separated from the concept of ‘ibuism’ (motherhood) as a gender-political ideology of the New Order and the context of the male-dominated film industry. Research findings show that the dominant representation of mothers is associated with the weak position of a woman with various roles: as a wife, a mother, a single mother, a citizen, and a daughter. However, this research found a 'limited' agency from Sofia WD as a woman director of the film Jangan Menangis Mama to offer gender representation that is not completely stereotypical as well as not just 'black and white' as in previous studies.

The Mother in Kore-eda's Broker : Striking New Reverberations in the Korean Context

Abstract: This article's interest in Hirokazu Kore-eda's Broker (2022) is twofold. First, it analyzes the visual text to unwrap the ideas of conventionality that are subtly debunked in the making of an unconventional family, amidst which it analyzes the mother character to be a central force of redemption and union. Ultimately, it argues the role of motherhood in this new family unit to be that of an imaginary and ideological vessel. Second, it positions this idea against the history of Korean cinema, where decades of films have similarly glorified motherhood as an unconditional love that redeems. Yet Kore-eda's radical image of a teenage sex worker as the bearer of this ideology simultaneously resonates with a different strand of Korean films: half-commercial half-arthouse films from the mid-1990s and 2000s known as "high-quality films." Motherhood is one of two connections that can be drawn between Broker and high-quality films. While the mother aligns with the female precedents of these films by together pushing the boundaries of the Korean cinematic mother, her pivotal role in the making of a new kind of family also connects to depictions of "alternative families." Such reverberations are meaningful not only in allowing Broker to be positioned within the context of Korean film history as a story that interlaces with the ideas of Korean films despite being made by a non-Korean auteur, but also in illuminating the trans- and multi-national nature of (art) films today, where the lowering of the national boundaries surrounding auteurs are leading to multi-contextual films.

“We Are the Beaker Mums”

This article sustains that children’s literature has the potential to legitimise and subvert dominant motherhood ideologies. Drawing on feminist motherhood theory in the fields of gender studies and children’s literature, this article critically analyses the influence of New Momism in Jacqueline Wilson’s Tracy Beaker series (1991–2019), contributing to a body of research on these acclaimed books for children. New Momism is an ideological movement which romanticises motherhood and sets highly demanding, impossible-to-meet standards of motherhood (Douglas and Adams 4). New Momist ideology resulted in a series of mother stereotypes advanced by the media, such as the “celebrity mum”, the “welfare mother” and the “supermum”. Mother characters in the Tracy Beaker novels are analysed against these stereotypes to ascertain to what extent their existence is supported or disavowed. This article is divided into two sections that coincide with the two sequences of the series. The first focuses on the two main mother characters: Carly, Tracy’s biological mother, and Cam, Tracy’s foster mother. The second part focuses on the character of Tracy as a mother and how her socio-economic background affects her experience of mothering. The presence of mother stereotypes such as the celebrity mum and the welfare mother demonstrate how New Momist ideas are embedded in the text. However, these patriarchal ideas of motherhood are also undermined in the novels, most notably through the challenge of mother stereotypes, the dismissal of the mother ideal and the portrayal of diverse motherhood experiences. Finally, an evolution in the treatment of motherhood throughout the years can be observed in the series, with the most recent novels presenting a more progressive perspective on working-class motherhood and female sexuality.

The Books on the Bedside Table: Re-Reading "Mother" in E. L. Doctorow's Ragtime

Abstract: This essay examines the character of Mother in E. L. Doctorow's 1975 novel, Ragtime , through the lens of the literature that sits on her nightstand: an antisuffragist text by Molly Elliot Seawell and a pamphlet about family limitation by Margaret Sanger. Mother's character stands with one foot in the world of radical feminism and another in the milieu of antisuffragists. This context reframes her interactions with marginalized figures in the narrative and undermines her supposedly happy ending. Reading Mother in view of these texts makes her a dynamic character in the novel, revealing her inner life and agency.

On the Way of Shaping the Image of the Underclass Minor Intellectuals in Ba Jin's Cold Nights-Taking the Character Wang Wenxuan as an Example

Cold Nights is a long novel written by the contemporary Chinese author Ba Jin in the 1990s, which is called The Civilian Epic. The book mainly portrays the characters of Wang Wenxuan, Zeng Shusheng and Wangs mother. It highlights the misery of the fate of intellectuals at the bottom of society in the war-torn environment and indicts the unreasonable social system. In this essay, the question of the way author Ba Jin portrays the underclass intellectuals in Cold Nights is studied and explored. How Ba Jin portrays the characters of small intellectuals who are down and out and the significance of such characterization are also analyzed. Conclusions are drawn by means of a close reading of the text and on the basis of extensive literature references. Ba Jin uses both opposites in contrast and like metaphors. The typical character of Wang Wenxuan is a vivid portrayal of the humiliated, humble and cowardly intellectuals of the lower class. It also extends from the single figure of Wang Wenxuan to the portrayal of a group of small intellectuals in wartime, expanding the universal significance of Wangs characterization.

Agency of Dalit Subaltern and Resistance in Rabindra Nath Tagore’s Chandalika

The purpose of this article is to analyze the agency of Dalit subaltern people and their resistance in Rabindranath Tagore’s Chandalika. The play has been mostly interpreted either as a play of religious conflict or a psychological drama. Such readings have however obliterated the most social concerns of the play like casteism and the agency of the Dalit people which make the play more as a social manifesto than merely stage performance and realm of aesthetics. This study looks at the issue of marginalized Dalit subaltern people focusing on how the true agency is denied to them and made hegemonic. The denial of agency to the subaltern people weakens their spirit of resistance and compels them to accept domination hegemonically. Maya, the mother character in the drama is hegemonized character in the play and gives consent to the caste system to function intimidatingly upon them. On the other hand, the performative gestures that are used consistently by Prakiti is an act of resisting the petrified and, static norms of the society. Thus, this paper focuses to explore the agency of subaltern people and throws light on the conception of resistance using the theoretical insights of Antonio Gramsci, Spivak and Michael Garnet.

Introduction

Introduction

Kritik terhadap Wacana Patriarki dalam Novel La Civilisation, ma Mère !... Karya Driss Chraïbi

Moroccan francophone literature raises various criticisms, especially the issues of colonialism and gender. Driss Chraïbi is a Moroccan writer who investigated these issues in La Civilisation, ma Mère !.... This novel is told from the male perspective of a mother’s struggle in fighting gender discrimination in the French Protectorate, which later gives rise to a critique. This article aims to analyse how the critique of the patriarchal discourse is constructed in the novel. The method being used is qualitative and is supported by Roland Barthes’s narrative structure theory, A.J. Greimas’ actantial scheme theory, Gérard Genette’ focalization theory, and theory of postcolonial feminism by Gayatri Spivak. The result of this article is the critique on the patriarchal discourse is constructed through the postcolonial discourse that utilises the disposition of the “I” character as the indigenous man of the young generation, who encourages the deployment of Western culture to civilize women. Modern civilisation also becomes a hero for the Mother character, which is a subaltern, in her success in realising freedom and diminishing patriarchal discrimination. Nevertheless, her mindset and mental condition are still colonized due to her adjacency to the colonial legacy of the West.

Exploring Motherhood and Oppression in Geetanjali Shree’s Novel Mai: Silent Mother

Reproduction and motherhood are two major aspects which have been discussed throughout the history of feminism. There are a number of literary works which provide enough space to mother characters that can be categorised as maternal fiction. After analysing the portrayal of mothers and their narrative it seems that the sole purpose of women is reproduction. This is how they can have a fulfilling life. In this paper we analyse the portrayal of women in the Indian context and how Geetanjali Shree silently questions this institutionalised and idealised picture of mother in her novel “Mai: Silent Mother.” She depicts how societal apparatus works to imprison women.

Handicap als narratieve prothese in het werk van Kader Abdolah

Kader Abdolah, a Dutch author of Iranian origin, repeatedly sketches father and mother characters who can be seen as representations of his own parents. As they are handicapped in their ability to communicate (the father is deaf and the mother suffers from deteriorating dementia) the son takes upon himself the task to tell their stories. This article presents an analysis of Abdolah’s works in which father and mother figures feature prominently, Spijkerschrift [Cuneiform] (2000) and Het gordijn [The Curtain] (2017). Referring to theoretical studies about the representation of proximate others in autobiographical writing, an attempt is made to answer the question about the character of these representations and their role. Because both parents are disabled, the analysis presented here is based furthermore on theoretical studies concerning representations of disability in (autobiographical) literature. As it turns out, disability is often being used as a narrative prosthesis that serves the author to catch the readers’ attention and to frame his or her story. As a result, disabled others are often being ‘absented’: their stories are being subordinated to the author’s own purpose, presenting themselves to their readership in a particular way.

ANALISIS KARAKTER TOKOH DALAM NOVEL AKU MENCINTAINYA MAMA KARYA FREDY S

This study aims to describe the characters in the novel Aku Cintanya Mama by Fredy S. The characters in question are (1) the character of the protagonist, (2) the character of the antagonist, and (3) the character of the tritagonist.
 The research approach used in this study is a qualitative descriptive analysis approach. The source of the data in this study was the text of the Novel Aku Cintanya Mama by Fredy S Published by Bintang Indonesia, in Jakarta 1999, the novel totaled 128 pages. The form of the data in this study is in the form of qualitative data, namely, quotations of words, and sentences that indicate the existence of types of characters in the Novel Aku Cintanya Mama by Fredy S. The data collection technique used in this research is the reading and note technique. The data analysis technique uses a qualitative descriptive method.
 Based on the research results, Rian's character is kind, friendly, brave and full of love. Tias's character is cruel and spiteful. The character of Rian's father is a mediator, confident, advisory and calm. The character of Rian's mother is caring and worried. Seno's father's character is mediocre and serious. The character of Seno's mother is a mediator. The character of Tias's mother is sensitive, understands, believes and does not have the heart. Seno's character is submissive and advice. Andri's character is advice and obedience. Rudi's character is obedient.

DRAMATURGI DALAM IDENTITAS DAN CITRA INFLUENCER KADEER BACHDIM PADA AKUN INSTAGRAM D_KADOOR

Kadeer Bachmid or better known as d_kadoor on Instagram may sound familiar to Javanese people who like to see humorous content on Instagram. Kadeer Bachmid is a celebrity on instagram from Malang, East Java who loves to make funny video content by acting as a fussy mother with a distinctive style of wearing a headscarf, but not taking off her thin mustache and using Javanese language. His expertise in playing the character of fussy mother has made many people like his content while being entertained. But behind it, Kadeer Bachmid is a genuine man and good at reciting beautifully. He has recorded this and put it in his Instagram several times, which is actually the opposite of his video content acting as talkative mothers. Therefore this study aims to analyze the formation of the identity and image of Kadeer Bachmid on the d_kadoor instagram account. The theory used to analyze this phenomenon is the dramaturgy theory popularized by Erving Goffman. This study uses qualitative research methods, namely observation, documentation study, literature study and Focus Group Discussion (FGD) which are very important to determine the design of the research concept.

The Otherness of Motherhood in the Selected Novels of Buchi Emecheta

This paper focuses on the role of women, especially the role of a mother during the pains of daughters. Deliberately or unknowingly mother often causes their female children deep scars in their lives and they remain perpetually. In consequence for that behavior, a girl child suffers at the hands of mother like figure, directly responsible for the upbringing, the protagonist metes out to her own girl child. The earlier African novels describe mother as Supreme Being and root of African culture, but in reality, the situations of women and mother like being are entirely different. The author brings out the hidden truth and exposes it to the world. The male authors focus on the positive aspects of motherhood and highlight the character of mother as a symbol of sacrifice and fertility. It is always shown as the mother character as an embodiment of all good qualities. However, Emecheta a careful observer of her culture and also a spectator of other cultures narrated the otherness of motherhood in her novels. In her earlier novels, she primarily focused on two aspects that is the otherness of motherhood and the oppressive elements of patriarchal society. This paper focuses on the otherness of motherhood in the novels of Buchi Emecheta. Keywords: Motherhood, Patriarchal Society, Feminism, Otherness.

Aunt Becky goes rogue: de-celebrification and de-mothering in the college cheating scandal, Operation Varsity Blues

ABSTRACT In March 2019 actors Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman were among wealthy parents charged in a university entry fraud scheme that ensured privileged children gained entry to coveted institutions, dubbed ‘Operation Varsity Blues’. Drawing on celebrity and criminology studies, this paper discusses how Loughlin and Huffman have been mediated as ‘de-celebrified’ but also as mothers who have threatened their children’s futures and consequently, have also been de-mothered. Whilst transgressive celebrity mothers such as Britney Spears exemplify the narrative of the de-celebrified, de-mothered star, in the cases of Loughlin and Huffman, because they famously played the mother characters Aunt Becky (Full House), and Lynette Scavo (Desperate Housewives), their de-mothering is amplified and complicated via this performative mothering on screen. The negative resonance of Huffman and Loughlin’s transgressive maternal behaviour is mediated through social media hashtags and memes that compare their personal criminal actions in the ‘Operation Varsity Blues’ scandal with their alter egos. Huffman and Loughlin must now negotiate both their de-celebrification and their de-mothering in the intersecting realms of celebrity and motherhood, amplified and complicated by the intensive mothering roles that have defined their careers.

THE PORTRAYAL OF MALIGNANT NARCISSM IN THE VILLAIN CHARACTERS OF DISNEY MOVIES

The uncomfortable condition of people to talk about mental illness often leads to its misinterpretation and stereotype. It includes to Malignant Narcissism. Therefore, this research aims to discuss about the portrayal of Malignant Narcissism in the villain characters of Disney Movie, which are the character Jafar in Aladdin movie (2019) and Cinderella’s Step Mother character in Cinderella movie (2015). By using Disney live-action movies as the object, this research aims to find the symptoms of Narcissistic Personality Disorder and Malignant Narcissism in the sufferer through the villain characters, and to find the impacts of the sufferers to their surroundings.This research used descriptive qualitative method typically library research with textual analysis since the data of this research are in the form of sentences and dialogues. The primary data sources are Aladdin (2019) and Cinderella (2015) movies, and the secondary data sources are journals and previous studies. This research used psychology of literature and psychology film as the approaches. In order to answer the research question, the researcher used Narcissistic Personality Disorder and Malignant Narcissism symptoms according to Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder.The results of this research show that both Jafar character in Aladdin movie and Cinderella’s Step Mother in Cinderella movie suffer Narcissistic Personality Disorder, specifically with the type of Malignant Narcissismbased on the symptoms that identified in both characters.Keywords: Disney movies, narcisstic personality disorder, malignant narcissism

Examining mothering: Race and abjection in Wilson’s Our Nig and Walker’s The Color Purple

The end of slavery sought to grant freedom to Blacks. However, a plethora of African-American novels portray different impressions that this perception of freedom is not as entailed as should be. African-American women writers have subtly and bluntly, portrayed how the African-American mother characters in their novels deal with segregation and abjection as freed women in the society. Employing the Race theory, this paper focuses on mothering as a unique and complex practice of motherhood that empowers the African-American woman and as a non-patriarchal experience in Walker‟s The Color Purple and Wilson‟s Our Nig. The paper concludes that Walker and Wilson‟s novels analysed in this paper are hinged on race and abjection through the mother characters as well as thematic issues discussed in the study. This paper also has implications for African-American studies.

Contestation of Discourse on Alcoholism among Native Americans in Joy Harjo’s The Reckoning (2002)

This study aims at revealing how the discursive practices and the discourse on alcoholism in the Native Americans is produced and contested in a short story entitled The Reckoning by Joy Harjo. The problem in this study is approached by Foucauldian concept of discourse production procedure. The method applied here is the Foucauldian discourse analysis by examining the problem through the process of formation including external and internal exclusion. Central to the analysis is that alcoholism is produced as taboo through the mother character which limits the general understanding about alcoholism; hence this discourse is possible to produce by the subject whose credentials can validate the truth. This discourse is also affirmed by the contextual prohibition which authoritatively can state the truth about alcoholism. This is further contested in the current society of how being an alcoholic would be considered as a non-native American way of life. The result indicates that alcoholism among Native American society becomes the discourse within which constraints produce considerable barriers to expose or address to this topic

Analisis Pengaruh Umur, Paritas, dan Motivasi Suami terhadap Nyeri Persalinan di Cirebon Tahun 2019

Background : Mothers who experience childbirth will feel pain. Labor pain is an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience due to tissue damage. In Indonesia Health Profile Data in 2018, there are 4643 Health Centers that work together through the health departement with blood transfusion units and hospitals in blood services to reduce maternal mortality. It is an effort of the health service the it is also necessary en effort from the family, especially the husband. Other factors need to be assessed for what affects labor pain. In 2015, maternal mortality rate especially in Cirebon, is 4 people on 5409 live birth. So, in this study will be seen again which factors that influence labor pain. Objective : Literature studies and preliminary studies were conducted to further examine and describe the experience of mothers through childbirth in Cirebon. Method : The design of this research is descriptive research. In this study, an analysis will be conducted, namely analysis of the influence, age, parity and motivation of husbands on the healing of special births in Cirebon District, which will be carried out using descriptive methods in which the data collection process allows the research to produce a description related to this study. The sampling technique in this research is criterion-based selection sampling, because the sample selection is based on certain unique criteria.Result and Discussion : The results of the study are there are 5 categories such as husband character husband’s treatment when the mother is giving birth, number of children, husband’s motivation and back massage from husband. From 10 informans, 7 primigravida with an average age of 28 years, in her experience felt very experiencing labor pain even though her husband provided motivation without treatment during the process of giving birth. The character of multigravida mothers as informan 3,4,and 5. They are on average 36 years old., 2 informans stated, they didn’t not feel pain because their husbands motivated and facilitated pain managements like back massage. Conclusion : The conclusion of this research is that all health workers who focus on reproductive health, to be more pro active in facilitating mothers who will give birth. Then matenity women, especially in Cirebon better get the assistance of their husband and family as applying the theory of family center maternity care. The outcome of this study is related to the Cirebon District Health Office's mission, which is to improve the ability, quality and professionalism of the health provider, optimize health services to the community, and create a healthy community.