The image of Motherhood in Olena Pchilka’s Prose

Abstract

The
article deals with the analysis of the motive structure of motherhood in the context of
nationalism in Olena Pchilka’s prose. Its purpose is to demonstrate the peculiarities of
the motherhood narrative in the works of early Ukrainian feminism and to trace the
influence of nationalism on its forming. It is established that the main aspects of the
theme in the prose by Olena Pchilka are pregnancy, childbirth, care for newborns and
relationships with adult children, mainly the issue of marrying daughters. At the same
time, relationships with young children are idealized, and this applies not only to the
mother but also to other women. But men are outside the children's world.
The main motive of imaging mothers with young children is the care of provision,
which unites both nursing ladies and servant mothers. No matter the abundance, it is
a world of care, not education. Relations with adult daughters are presented in two
ways. In the story "Comrades" the education of the daughter changes the patriarchal
subordination of the younger to the elders, and in the story "Artichokes" the mother
considers the daughter as the "capital", which should be profitable to invest. In most
texts, mothers' relationships with adult daughters are devoid of emotional experience
transferring.
In general, the image of motherhood in Olena Pchilka’s work is in the circle of ideas
formed by nationalism, and demonstrates one of the variants of the image of
Berehynia.