The Subversion Of Maternal Mythology

Amy Tan, Eileen Chang and Toni Morrison’s literature creation of the counter-traditional filicidal mothers Gu Ying-ying, Cao Qiqiao and Sethe who ruthlessly kill their children mentally or physically subverts the age-old maternal notions of human society and disintegrates the long-term panegyric on the maternal mythology of the whole society radically in their separate work the Joy Luck Club, the Golden Cangue and Beloved. Hence, through the analysis of the maternal filicide which conflicts the traditional notions of maternity, the thesis deconstructs the traditional notions of maternity and reveals its essence to illustrate that the maternal filicide collides against just the traditional maternal notions. Apart from that, the thesis explores the historical root, the social root and the psychological root of the filicide, and makes readers recognize that the extremely interior fraught and depressed state of mothers enormously influences their maternity under the pressure from the external circumstance, such as authoritative, economical and cultural aspects. Meanwhile, through the analysis on the aesthetic values of the maternal filicide in the field of tragedy and literature, readers will have more tolerance, sympathy and even implications towards the filicidal mothers who seemingly violate the maternal convention. Eventually, this thesis expects to awaken readers that the estimation to the maternal filicide in the traditional notions of maternity just reflects the maternal notions under patriarchy which is an iron cage meticulously forged by certain people in certain historical and social environment for their own benefits. It does not express the authentic maternal demands, and it is not the true notions of maternity as well, because the so-called maternity includes not only the biological and instinctive maternity, but also the social maternity under the influence of external environment. The extremely repressed environment will grievously affect the formation of the healthy maternity and lead to its distortion, which is the essential cause of the maternal filicide in the three works. Therefore, the whole society should highly pay attention to the issue of the healthy development of the normal maternity.