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Mother or Monster? A Psychosocial Study of Maternal Filicide in Selected Novels

Mother or Monster? A Psychosocial Study of Maternal Filicide in Selected Novels

Published Apr 8, 2024 Updated Apr 8, 2024 Society
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Mother or Monster? A Psychosocial Study of Maternal Filicide in Selected Novels

 

Motherhood is one of the most sacred roles in every culture; due to this belief, it is deemed perfect. Thus, when a mother tries to harm and kill her biological children, the act is so incomprehensible in the eyes of humanity that they turn a blind eye, instead of searching for the roots of the problem. The purpose of this study was to offer a better understanding of the various psychiatric, psychological, and sociological factors involved in the act of filicide in Beside the Sea by Véronique Olmi and The Big Girls by Susanna Moore, employing trauma, maternal ambivalence, fusional mother theory, and matrifocal narrative in order to create a new perspective from the eye of the filicidal mother into the act. However, it is essential to note that not every mother with psychosocial issues commits maternal filicide, and not every filicidal mother experiences psychosocial issues. This thesis aimed to use literature as a neutral source to represent the misrepresented filicidal mother. In her struggles as a victim of the hostile world around her, she has turned into a perpetrator. This thesis used the positive contemporary literary approach towards the other as the new normal to give subjectivity to the filicidal mother through a matrifocal narrative. This thesis holds maternal ambivalence as a key element in understanding a filicidal mother from a literary perspective while regarding the roles of society and psychosis as contributing factors that should not be overlooked. This thesis also aimed to use the impartiality of literature as a platform to present the filicidal mother from her perspective to acknowledge the level of devastation it causes for the mother who has been forced to take drastic actions. This thesis concluded that the filicidal mother is a victim of extremity, and her efforts for survival must be acknowledged.

 

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Jackie H verif

Jackie H 1 year ago

I for one would not qualify literature as impartial - it is everything but that since it adopts a point of view and appeals to emotions. Literature does not aim to be an objective scientific study. But the effort to empathise with people that most societies consider monstrous but are in fact suffering human beings is commendable 🙂

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