Sunday, May 6, 2012

Motherhood in The Time: Night

Sima and Anna, Anna and Alyona, Alyona and Tima: three generations, but nothing has changed. Mother and child relationships in this novel are strained at best. Readers do not even know of Sima's situation until midway through the novel. This shows a lack of bond between Sima and Anna. Additionally, I felt that Anna mostly did not want to have to deal with her mother; her mother was more of a hassle than a human. Anna constantly criticizes Alyona for her promiscuity and treatment of her children. Alyona has children with multiple men and leaves them for Anna to take care of. However, Anna is also pushed around by the men in her life (notably by Andrei) and does not treat Alyona with any respect. Anna wrote in Alyona's diary, an ultimate show of disrespect and criticism. Alyona leaves Tima with Anna. Anna shows that she is both neglectful and uncaring of her small child. Tima loves his mother, though. He does not yet understand why she is being so cruel to him. All of the relationships are complicated and difficult. They are weak due to the mother's attitudes and even selfishness. Most of the novel sorts through the ugly relationships and loneliness sometimes associated with motherhood.

However, at the end of the novel, things do begin to change. Anna stays with her mother near the end of her life and takes care of her. She seems to really love her and tries to help her. This is quite a difference from the bickering going on earlier in the novel. Alyona's relationship with Tima also changes. At the end of the novel, Anna finds the beds empty, a sign that Alyona has left with her children. Alyona finally seems to be taking some responsibility for her children and becomes independent by leaving with them. Although she does not confront her mother or speak out for what she believes, she does show her newfound confidence through her ability to leave a bad situation. The only relationship now strained is between Anna and Alyona. Their similarities make it difficult for them to compromise, but with age, the relationship could improve, as it did with Sima and Anna. There is hope for motherhood yet.

What do you believe Petrushevskaya's view of motherhood is? Why do you think that she focused on mother relationships instead of father relationships? Do you believe that anything really changed in the relationships of the novel as I stated above? 

5 comments:

  1. Your view is plausible although one could argue otherwise as well. Consider this: Anna wants her mother back to benefit financially, not because she loves her. Also, she still needs money to care for Tima (she does not know that Alyona will be leaving with all three kids). I personally don't see much altruism or change of heart there, but one could interpret the story either way.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I disagree Katy. The ending only seems to be some sort of resolution because the pieces of her life that entail some future promise are removed. Without them, her hopelessness feels complete and satisfying. The grandchildren are gone without a trace, as well as her kids and her mother, who will only degrade into a worse condition, is left to drain her of her remaining strength. In short, without telling the story until it's full ending (Anna's death), we still arrive there.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I understand these comments, but I still disagree. I think there was a change at the end of the novel. I think, as we discussed in class, Anna can love. She may be claustrophobic and bad at showing her love throughout a lot of the novel, but I don't think that her reasons for taking her mother back were completely selfish. Although the end of the novel could signify hopelessness, it could signify the beginning of independence. Anna is depressed because she has no one to smother or be pushed over by, but I don't think that is necessarily a bad thing. She can have time to herself. She no longer has only the night to herself. Alyona is also finally taking some responsibility for her family. I don't think it has to degrade into a worse condition, but maybe I'm just optimistic.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Through her method of storytelling (extreme first person narration), Petrushevskaya seems to be showing how Anna can't pull back from herself and look at things from a wider perspective. If she were able to, being alone at the end of the book might be good for her, but I think she will simply continue to dwell on her kids and mother. Perhaps Petrushevskaya is trying to bring up a point about the permanence of motherhood. Yes: Anna loves, but her love is too powerful and closed minded to allow her relationships to change.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I did not think nearly this deep into the topic of motherhood. I saw it as an extreme first person narrative that highlights the very plausible troubles and definitive hardships that can occur with motherhood. However, it did not glorify it with some "ideal maternal character," and instead presented a very flawed character with many flawed dynamics. I felt that this made the characters much less likable, but also much more human.

    ReplyDelete