This chapter of the book, "Of Woman Born," opens with the author's journal entry. The frustration of being a Mother is evident in this journal entry with words such as "suffering" (page 21), "bitter resentment" and "despair". Yet, the author also talks about the "murderous alternation" and uses words such as "blissful" and "tenderness" to describe the gentleness of a mother. This internal conflict a mother has strikes me because the first thing that comes to mind when asked to describe the relationship between a mother and child is "unconditional love". Never has the word "anger" arise when I think of a mother and child relationship. I began to realize that I was stereotyping mothers to only be loving, nurturing and gentle. The book, on the other hand, was pointing out and questioning these stereotypes and assumptions I held. The internal conflict of loving the child and being angry to the child is clearly depicted through the language used and it creates awareness of the internal struggle a mother has. .
Moreover, it also led me to ask myself why a child was so important to a woman. In the chapter, it says that "my husband spoke eagerly of the children we would have; my parents-in-law awaited the birth of their grandchild" (page 25) yet she herself was unsure if she wanted a child where she says, "I had no idea what I wanted, what I could or could not choose. I only knew that to have a child was to assume adult womanhood to the full, to prove myself, to be 'like other woman'". It struck me how this is so true. Coming from a traditional Chinese family, having a child after marriage is something that is expected because a child is often symbolic of a complete family and that the family line will continue on. Thus, having a child became the norm for families. I never realized how this was actually pressure placed on woman by society, prompting me to think deeper.