The making of mothers

O'Donohoe, Stephanie; Hogg, Margaret; Maclaran, Pauline; Martens, Lydia; Stevens, Lorna

Abstract

In Korean author Kyung-sook Shin's best-selling novel, Please Look After Mom, when an elderly mother goes missing in Seoul, her family are desperate to find her, but to no avail. The book revolves around their search, with each chapter narrated by a different family member and, finaIly, by the mother herself. As the chapters unfold, we realise that no-one in her family ever really knew her as a person: their relationship with her was based only on their own needs and the role she played, as wife or mother, in fulfilling these needs. The mother's chapter makes a surprising revelation: she too had desires, dreams and feelings that were secret from her family. In a poignant moment she admits that she also 'desperately needed a mother' her whole life.

Citation

O'Donohoe, S., Hogg, M., Maclaran, P., Martens, L., & Stevens, L. (2013). The making of mothers. In Motherhoods, Markets and Consumption. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203469729-1

• Online Publication Date: Sep 17, 2013
• Publication Date: Sep 17, 2013
• Deposit Date: Jun 7, 2023
• Publisher: Routledge
• Book Title: Motherhoods, Markets and Consumption
• ISBN: 9781138206106; 9780415516495
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203469729-1
• Publisher URL: https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780203469729-1/making-mothers-stephanie-donohoe-margaret-hogg-pauline-maclaran-lydia-martens-lorna-stevens?context=ubx&refId=811c4fc0-300c-48b7-9e73-31f26162fa03