In response to Mary's post about Gender and Shame in Shame...
I think there are constant contradictions in the way that pregnancy and womanhood is conceptualized not only here, but also elsewhere. Think of the madonna and the whore. Thao made a connection between Mary's point and the many conflicted views of pregancy in the Crooked Line. I agree with Thao in her comment that this novel is so unbelievably complicated, which is why I'm not really going to try to tackle what Chugthai means by the various reactions to pregancy in her novel. I just wanted to point out how pregnancy is so tied to shame even in our society because of the deep competitiveness that surrounds the ability to procreate, and now...the emphasis has been placed on -how- a woman is able to procreate. Giving a natural birth has now become a bragging point. In this, I think, though, I can pull the idea that there is an undeniable connection between shame and pride...which may offer an explanation as to why pregnancy may be so dually conceived. Get it? conceived?
Rushdie seems to make 'shame' seem like a woman's natural reaction to the news that she is pregnant. Although the sex part of making a baby is fun for both the man and woman, the woman is the one who has to carry the burden of the shame that the pregnancy brings upon her. It blows my mind, however, that any community or culture could associate the birth of a child with shame. How could a mother be ashamed of her very own child that is being created inside of her?
ReplyDelete