English Final

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Recommended: Mother-daughter relationship research essay

Throughout life we experience and form many relationships and these relationships help define who we are. However, of all potential relationships, the mother-daughter relationship is the strongest relationship that can be formed. A mother-daughter relationship is all of the following: loving, supportive, encouraging, aspirational, inspiring, emotional, and trusting. When reading the books for my Contemporary Women Writers class, the mother-daughter relationship was a key theme throughout. The women writers of Beloved, Speaking in Tongues, and Runaway have thoughtfully captured the power of the mother-daughter relationship in a light that showcases this special bond’s (struggles and triumphs/ability to consume lives/ability to self destruct/ability to both create and destroy), demonstrating that these writers share the compassion and value of the relationship.

Toni Morrison’s Beloved depicts the complicated mother-daughter relationship between Sethe and her daughter Denver, as Sethe constantly lives in the past and Denver is ignored. Unfortunately, Denver must grow up on her own without the help from her mother who is consumed with her past and the new addition to their household, Beloved. Found on the side of the road, Beloved had won over Sethe’s attention and affection. “Sethe was flattered by Beloved’s open, quiet devotion.” But Sethe had different expectations for her daughter because “the same adoration from her daughter would have annoyed her; made her chill at the thought of having raised a ridiculously dependent child.” (Morrison, 68) Immediately it is seen that Sethe has higher expectations and aspirations for her daughter, but she does not go about conveying these aspirations and expectations in the right way. Already l...

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...a ran to Marie as if she were. Marie had a family of her own, two kids and a husband, however she was working as a prostitute to earn enough money to buy them a condo. Marie is an unconventional mother, but Tia sees that she is doing everything she can to help out her family; falling exactly into the motherly role. After thinking she is raped by Dezi, Tia immediately runs to find Marie. Marie checked Tia out to confirm or deny the rape and gave her the advice to run away; to run back home.

Packer emphasizes the limitlessness of gaining a mother-daughter relationship. Fourteen-year old Tia was willing to runaway to a big city. Not only did Tia not have a plan, but she ended up living with strangers, one of the many things children are taught not to do. Packer draws attention to a nonexistent bound on the extent one will go to foster a mother-daughter relationship.

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