Mother Duties

"The welcoming cool of unchiseled headstones; the one she selected to lean against on tiptoe, her knees wide open as any grave. Pink as a fingernail it was, and sprinkled with glittering chips. Ten minutes, he said. You got ten minutes I'll do it for free. Ten minutes for seven letters. With another ten could she have gotten "Dearly" too?" (5)

Sethe has just exchanged sex for seven letters on her baby girl's gravestone. Now, when reading this, Morrison makes clear two issues regarding the role of women which are: 1) prostitution and 2) motherhood.

With no hesitation, she mindlessly gives away what some today view as the most precious gift every woman holds, her body. Many women view the body as a temple, and to allow a stranger into the temple is a disgrace. When we hear of Sethe’s act of prostitution, we begin to question her morals concerning the importance of sex. When first reading this passage, we immediately think that Sethe finds no value in sex because it is in our nature to believe that a woman who has sex with just anyone for a  is a whore.The definition of a whore is a woman who engages in promiscuous sexual intercourse in exchange for a desired item. And that is exactly the word we think of when we read this passage.

However, if we look at the reason for Sethe doing so, we begin to understand why she choose to do so and our view on her changes. Her reason outweighed the importance of her own temple. She values the need of her child far more than her body. Her love for her child is great and powerful, and we see this in her careless act of prostitution. She was quick to sacrifice herself for her child. Sethe giving up her own body, sacrificing herself shows just how much she loves her children and how far she is willing to go in order to bring satisfaction to her child.

 

The sacrifices mothers make are at times unbelievably. They do all they can to bring happiness to their children. Sethe serves as an example of this.