Mary Gordon utilizes this novel as a way to understand and unpack her relationship with her mother. Thus, the piece itself addresses her authority and authenticity in telling this novel.
The authority of Gordon's voice and her handle on this become clear as the novel goes on. The honesty of her voice gives allows the reader to know exactly what Gordon is thinking or feeling. Her writing is raw, so she even questions her authority in being able to tell this story and her experiences. Occasionally, she questions whether or not she has the right to talk about her mother and tell her story. For example, she says, "How is it possible to speak of a mother's body? Possible, that is, without betrayal... How can a daughter talk about a mother's body?" (215). By questioning these, she seems to questions her authority at times.
Given the nature of the story, her mother's struggle with polio and the excessive way Gordon details the effects of her disease, Gordon's honesty seems to speak to her authenticity in telling this story. She is not holding any specifics back. This could possibly mean that she uses this excessive detail as a way to forgo addressing the heart of the matter. However, I do not believe this is the case. She writes honestly, as if she writes in order to comprehend her relationship with her mother and even Gordon herself.
I don't believe that was the case either. Usually, women look to their mothers as a way of figuring out who they are supposed be. I know that I look to my mother as a way to understand who I am, and Gordon is doing the same.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your post that Gordon had authenticity in her writing about her mother and herself. Although Gordon herself questioned her own authority, I believe that she did have it because of the impact that her mother had on her.
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