A mother's love and the power of a female community

The role of a mother

From chapter 1 to chapter 5, the power of the female community which is the role of a mother is the main theme that the writer wanted to show to the readers.

Have you ever wonder about who is a mother? What is the role of a mother? And what will happen if a child loses his or her mother when he or she is still small?

If you had read this novel you will find out that Lily is yearning for her mother. These situation add to her loneliness and sense of being an outsider. Lily is already different from other teenagers at her school because she is excluded from the events like charm school because she is motherless. Lily really misses her mother when it comes to maturity issues such as picking out a training bra or starting her periods. You can actually see what is the role of a mother through the elaboration. Without a mother’s love, a child will grow up as an unloved.

Then, the story of her other’s death is repeated, both through Lily’s memory and T-Ray’s dubious explanation. Lily even suggests that her own death will allow her to meet her mother.

In this world, however, Lily has no one to help her with teenage dresses or explain the bits of wisdom that are passed from mother to daughter. Lily knows so little about her mother, so she makes up a lot of romantics stories about her and compares her own photo with that of her beautiful mother.  She dreams of what her mother would have been like and the motherly things she would have done, like brushing her hair. Sometimes, she even dreams that Rosaleen is her mother.

What is important to learn from this theme?

Through this theme, I found out that  a  mother actually plays an important role in her child’s life. Without a mother’s love, children can become a unloved person. This will make them feel like nobody cares about them and they will start to avoid their parents and so on.

In chapter 6-9, as the author introduces more about the characters and settings, we can see a better image on the theme which is the power of the female community and a mother's love

The power of a mother

The power of a mother love can be seen on Chapter 6 where they were talking about Pearl, the oldest slave and is also known as Mary, the mother of Jesus. She describe mothers as someone who had seen every kind of suffering and knew everything that others suffered.

"Everyone knew the mother of Jesus was named Mary, and that she'd seen suffering of every kind. That she was strong and constant and had a mother's heart.....It seemed to them she knew everything they suffered." (page 161-162)

The power of a female community

• Caring 

"What's happened to her?" June asked, and I could hear a note of panic in her voice. "I've never seen her like this." 

When I woke, I was lying on August's bed across the hall with an ice-cold washcloth folded over my forehead and August and Rosaleen staring down at me. Rosaleen had pulled up the skirt of her dress and was fanning me with it, showing most of her thighs. "Since when have you started fainting?" she said.......(Chapter 6, page 164)

"Are you okay with Rosaleen moving over here?" page 190 chapter 7

When Lily fainted because of the heat, Rosaleen and August helped her and carried her to August's bed. 

• Wanting to know more 

"You were wondering if there was ever a time when I almost got married."

 "How come if your favorite color is blue, you painted your house so pink?"

Lily wanted to know more about the calendar's family in order to get closer to them. She asked a lot of question about June, August and even May herself whether she's ever been married or not. May also wanted to know more about Lily.

• Bonded with each other

"What's happened to her?" June asked, and I could hear a note of panic in her voice. "I've never seen her like this." This sentence is an example of a bond in the female community.

 This occur not only to June but all of them knew that something is wrong with May as she never acted that way before. They could notice if something is wrong based on their personality. This can also be found in page 164 when Lily fainted and June asked what happened to her as she had never fainted. Besides that, this can also be found when May sunk down when Neil and June had an argument.

Chapter 10-14 focuses more on August being a mother figure to Lily.

• A stranger can be more of a mother than your own sometimes.

"Because you weren't ready to know about her. I didn't want to risk you running away again. I wanted you to have a chance to get yourself on solid ground, get your heart bolstered up first. There's a fullness of time for things, Lily. You have to know when to prod and when to be quiet, when to let things take their course. That's what I've been trying to do."

Page 340, August to Lily

• A mother is the strongest pillar in a family. A family can fall apart without one.

"He yells all the time." "At you?" "At everything in the world. But that's not the reason I left." "Then what was it, Lily?" "T. Ray… he told me my mother…" The tears rushed up, and my words came out in high-pitched sounds I didn't recognize. "He said she left me, that she left both of us and ran away."

Page 342, Lily to August

• Comfort

August slid up to the edge of her chair and opened her arms, the way she'd opened them to June that day they'd found May's suicide letter. I leaned into them, felt them close around me. One thing is beautiful beyond my words to say it: August holding you.

Page 343, Lily on August

• A mother’s love is contagious

“Even if you did accidentally kill her, you are still the most dear, most lovable girl I know. Why, Rosaleen loves you. May loved you. It doesn't take a wizard to see Zach loves you. And every one of the Daughters loves you. And June, despite her ways, loves you, too. It just took her a while longer because she resented your mother so much."

"Mostly, though, I want you to know, I love you. Just like I loved your mother."

Page 349, August to Lily

• Parting with a mother figure

"Poor Deborah cried and cried. She was nineteen by then, but she cried like she was six."

Page 356, August to Lily on Deborah

• A mother’s love is unconditional. Even though Deborah married T. Ray, in which she didn’t agree to initially, only because she was pregnant with Lily, she still loved Lily and didn’t blame her for the circumstances she was in.

"She called me right after you were born. She said you were so pretty it hurt her eyes to look at you."

Page 359, August to Lily on Deborah