Bound by an outer shell of a paperback book, Mothers from Carmen Machado’s “Her Body And Other Parties” lets us into the mind of a woman who rolls with the punches. Locked in an abusive relationship, she remains nameless to the reader but we see her so clearly. Mara, a child who cries non-stop and stresses out our narrator. She wasn’t ready to be a mother nor did she want to be. But through the veil of “love” the word “our” convinced her that being Mara’s mother was worth it. At times the mother is challenged, the reader is fearful that at any moment she could snap and harm the child. She doesn’t and we are shown her character. Bad, the love interest, birth mother to their daughter, and the abuser is hardly framed in the picture. Bad seems blunt and abrasive, she doesn’t care much for anyone and can manipulate our narrator into believing that she is in a healthy relationship.
In the realm of the Fantastic, you could argue this is a coming of age story. Mostly for the mother who’s image in your head is tired, tattered, but caring. In other ways, you can try to look into the eyes of Bad and see how an outsider manages to stay inside and influence fear among those who live in the same house. This woman has so much power and she’s only mentioned a few times. Other characters that show up such as the teacher and cab driver are nothing but bystanders, they see something wrong but don’t act upon their better judgment to help this poor woman out of her situation. As the small family grows, we aren’t told how Tristan, Mara’s little brother, is born. Could it have been rape? Insemination perhaps, but from the descriptions of their food situation, it isn’t likely? All we are given is the fact that he is her son and Mara is Bads. These ties are what keep our narrator alive. She has to blind herself in order for her children to thrive. In the last paragraph, you can hear the fear in her words,
You’ll flood the house, don’t do it, you promised it would never happen again. Don’t floor the house, the bills, don’t flood the house, the rugs, don’t flood the house, my loves, or we could lose you both. We’ve been bad mothers and have not taught you how to swim.
The stress in this sentence tells us that this is unhealthy. There is true fear in what could happen and the deepest fear is having your babies taken away from you.
The idea of this story being a coming-of-age story is very interesting to me. I hadn’t thought of it this way, but I can see where you’re coming from and would be interested to know more about this interpretation.