Mothering modes: analyzing mother roles in novels by twentieth-century United States women writers

Chapter 2 
 
Mothering as Difficulty in Dorothy West’s The Wedding
and Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon 
 
Examples in the novels in Chapter 1 of this study show the mother character 
whose rearing of her young daughter(s) is negatively affected by dilemmas caused by 
oppressive circumstances in their lives, which leads to the separation of mother and 
daughter by the end of the text and to the breakdown of the mother-daughter relationship. 
The mothers in Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon and Dorothy West’s The Wedding in 
this chapter are not affected by all of the same oppressive circumstances, nor do their 
oppressive circumstances lead to the same level of failure in the mother-daughter 
relationship. For these mothers, discrimination along racial and ethnic lines is not 
addressed as a major affront to their abilities to mother their children. In this chapter, 
however, the issue of skin color within the African-American culture becomes a major 
aspect of raising children in The Wedding. In addition, class discrimination is analyzed in 
a different manner in this chapter. Examples in this chapter show three mother characters 
who discriminate against people of a lower socioeconomic status, and a poor mother 
character in Song of Solomon who is basically oblivious to the societal limits of class. 
In addition, the novels in this chapter focus on the mothers of older adult 
daughters rather than on adolescent and older teenage daughters as the novels in Chapter 
1 do. This chapter also evaluates how the differences in oppressive circumstances can 
contribute to the more positive effectiveness of the mother characters’ coping strategies. 
The mothering situations in these novels are more successful than in the novels in 
Chapter 1, since the issue of mother-daughter separation is not presented in the same 

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manner. Mothers, daughters, and granddaughters are separated due to death in Chapter 2 
and not because they choose to be separated. Similar to the mothering situations 
discussed in Chapter 1, examples in this chapter present mothering situations that are 
adversely affected by oppressive circumstances which create the need for coping 
strategies for the mother characters. In Chapter 2, "Mothering as Difficulty in Dorothy 
West's The Wedding and Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon," I argue that these novels 
show how oppressive circumstances, such as childhood experiences, socioeconomic 
philosophies, social isolation, and family discord, can create the need for inner strength, 
mothering assumption, mothering mentors, surrogate mothers, and/or women-centered 
networks as coping strategies for the mothers. By mothering assumption, I refer to the 
taking over of or laying claim to the mothering responsibilities of a child. Examples in 
this chapter show at least two women (grandmothers) who assume the mothering 
responsibilities of rearing their granddaughters, because their daughters are portrayed as 
being incapable of fulfilling those mothering responsibilities alone or at all.
In the novels discussed in Chapter 1, the complications of mothering 
responsibilities lead to dilemmas. The choices made in those dilemmas then lead to the 
breakdown of the mother-daughter relationship. In this chapter, the works end with the 
relationships being somewhat more successful. Although some of the mothering 
relationships end tragically, there remains a mutual love relationship that is also 
manifested by their physical togetherness. For example in one of the relationships in The 
Wedding, the mother and her daughters do not respect each other’s choices and 
philosophical beliefs, but they do preserve their mother-daughter relationships and 
remain connected physically and emotionally. However, some of the oppressive 

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circumstances that affect mothering lead to the dissatisfaction and depression of the 
daughters and some semblance of the mother-daughter relationship remains, in some 
instances, until death parts it. Although the relationships examined in this chapter do not 
show how effective coping strategies can be most successful for mothers who must 
combat oppressive circumstances, they do seem more successful than those relationships 
examined in Chapter 1. Their greater success seems to be predicated on, but not limited 
to, several aspects: 1) the management of different oppressive circumstances, 2) the 
absence of physical child abuse, and 3) the perspectives of older adult daughters. 
However, these relationships are by no means as successful as they could be.
Of those oppressive circumstances that affect the mothering situations in The