mothergoodbypaige

Doris Lessing’s The Fifth Child was begging me to make a parallel with the 1968 movie “Rosemary’s Baby”, starring Mia Farrow. My own mother told me about the plot of this movie when I was still young enough to be scarred by the imagery of an alien devil creature being carried in my own womb for nine months, being nourished by what I decide to eat, finally entering the world through my own body. For those who weren’t told about the movie by their mother at an impressionable age, a NY Times journalist reviews the movie, exposing its themes of persecution, isolation, paranoia and motherhood. His informative and entertaining video is short and worth a quick watch because it has footage from the original movie, which manages to convey its creepy terror to the modern audience despite its outdated, understated effects.

Even from this short clip any reader can see obvious commonalities between the two stories–a young idealistic couple buy a house they can’t afford to raise children they can’t afford, operating under delusions of grandeur with neighbors and family intervening deep into their private lives to help as they see fit, for better or for worse. Both young mothers give birth to a child that is not normal, not like them, otherworldly, monstrous and alien-like. The child is unable to connect with any other individual in a human way.

The one similarity I want to emphasis is the mother’s feeling of persecution for birthing this creature. Harriet repeatedly mentions how she feels like a criminal, she feels like everyone treats her with condemnation, it was  her fault for giving birth to Ben, yet no one will acknowledge that he is different.

Lessing writes, “Again Harriet was wondering why she was always treated like a criminal. Ever since Ben was born it’s been like this, she thought. Now it seemed to her the truth, that everyone had silently condemned her. I have suffered a misfortune she told herself; I haven’t committed a crime.” (78)

Is a woman every culpable for her child’s behavior? If Ben wasn’t “different” would Harriet be blameworthy of raising a child who would kill cats and dogs? How much is nature vs. nurture to an outsider who is merely observing or hearing rumors about the child?

Harriet desperately wants to share her burden with someone in a more deep, candid way than through superficial pragmatic conversation. We see this recurring through the novella, when she speaks with the principal or doctors or anyone of authority. Lessing injects disdain for the superficiality and impersonal nature of interactions with authority figures who would rather ignore inconvenient, giant issues, and have the mother deal with her problem by herself.  “What she wanted, she decided, was that at last someone would use the right words, share the burden. No, she did not expect to be rescued, or even that anything much could change. She wanted to be acknowledged, her predicament given its value.” We see Harriet share Rosemary’s paranoia and feeling of being persecuted. We get an inside look from Harriet’s point of view, which is unique as a reader because we need to decipher what is reality and what she is feeling. Just as in the NY Times video, Harriet is similar to Rosemary,

“…the beating anxious heart of this film is mia farrow. everything that happens in the movie takes place from rosemary’s point of view so that we feel every nuance and tremor of her panic, vulnerability and terror.”

When Aunty Cora wants to formally adopt Peppy, the question of who deserves to be called a mother is presented to the reader. Aunty Cora raises her Peppy, “mothering” her by providing security, shelter, manners and life lessons during her formative years. She cultivates her great-nieces individualism and personality, allowing her to play to heart’s content. This makes other mothers in the community criticize Cora for spoiling the child, leaving her undisciplined and rude, yet Patricia Powell paints Peppy as a charming, vivacious character. It’s easy to see how selfish Gwennie is acting when she won’t allow Cora to formally adopt Peppy, who is Gwennie’s biological daughter. But is it selfish? Does a mother have a certain right to their child even though they may not raise them, just because she carried the child for nine months and birthed her, providing half of her genes?  Adoption is a relentlessly complicated issue that is controversial for its myriad of advantages and disadvantages, in addition to its incredible personal nature. The personal, subjective, complicated issues that accompany adoption can only be paralleled with the issue of abortion, concerning a woman’s right to her body, her child, welfare of a child, welfare of a mother, etc, etc.

I read an article on a popular blog based out of New York called Jezebel about Jessica Beagley who is an adoptive mother in Alaska. She was featured on Dr. Phil when she shared footage of the unique and unconventionally cruel punishment of her young son. The article refers to the practice as “hot saucing”, a punishment that entails squirting painfully spicy hot sauce into a young child’s mouth when he misbehaves. The questions are endless: What constitutes misbehavior? When is punishment required? How is a punishment equal and fitting to the child’s behavior? The questions become more intense when media gets involved. Airing the footage on Dr. Phil allowed responses from the public to be shared on countless links, as the story was widely covered and the original footage featured on youtube.com. (for video footage see the following link, but beware of disturbing footage: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jyKtnpzyIU )

The media coverage and backlash from viewers caused Beagley to be charged with a misdemeanor, with the severe (and unlikely) possibility for her children to be sent back to their native country, Russia, where they were adopted from. Who deserves to have the children? Would they be treated more humanely in an orphanage or foster system in Russia?

Unfortunately, neither outcome looks promising, and this is just one case of many of children with less than ideal upbringings. Would Peppy be better off with a loving and doting, yet elderly, Mama Cora? Or with her slightly neglectful biological mother Gwennie and abusive father Walter, yet among her siblings for camaraderie?