SHAILA L. QUIAO 12ST.

PETER-HUMSS 21 ST CENTURY LITERATURE PERFROMANCE

TASK

MOTHERHOOD
“The feet of your husband there lies your behest.”

The story of the motherhood by Taslima Nasrin is a story that represents the conflict between the
cultural norms and human rights that has been violated by the husbands family.It is a childless marriage that had
been disunited because of the inability of the woman to produce an offspring for a long time that leads the
husbands family to violate the right of the woman.

By reading the story of the Motherhood we can imagine the status of each character. In the story of the
motherhood we can imagine the status or they belong to the group of rich people where in they used their
wealth to pay for the service of the Pir for them to have an offspring while the woman in the story is in poor
status or she belong to the poor family aqnd this proves the time when she is asking for her father to take her
home because of the discrimination she is experiencing within the family of her husband and her father insist
maybe because of lack of money and also she is an outcast and shame in the family clan of her husband and this
proves when her mother in law is convincing her son to marry another woman because of her inability to
produce an offspring and the mother in law I shamed by this.

The wealth of the husband’s family leads to discrimination to the woman and violates her rights as a
human being that also lower her self esteem and as well as her dignity. Because of the lack of patience and
desire of the mother-in- law for them to have an offspring she convince her so to pay the service of the Pir
without even thinking what will happen to the wife of her son.

It is only natural, right, and just to serve your husband and to make him happy but serving him too much
in exchange with your dignity is not right anymore. Women by divine nature have the greater gift and
responsibility for home and children and nurturing there and in other settings but they also deserved to be
treated with the utmost care, respect, and dignity that has been violated in the story.

Also in the story we can see the usage of power that the Pir had. A lot of people believed in him and he
is considered to be respected in their society but it turns out that he is taking advantage to the power he had to
rape women and one of his victims is the protagonist in the story in which he destroys the dignity of the woman.
The protagonist in the story know how powerful the Pir is so she stayed quiet because she is afraid of
knowing the position of the Pir in their society. We can see the opposition between the poor and rich in the story
and also between the men and women.

In conclusion the story of the Motherhood leaves us a lesson on how childless marriage is a disadvantage and
the feeling of being a member of a toxic and selfish family who only think on its own happiness though they are
hurting other people because of their desire to attain this happiness. It also let us open our eyes to the real world
where in most of men sees women only as a child bearer not as a golden treasure and the discrimination against
women. Lastly women deserve to be treated right not to be discriminated and we must not see women as a weak
beings because they also have the ability to fight for their rights especially when it comes to their dignity.