Monday, March 28, 2016

Reflection on "The Maternal Instinct" by V.S. Naipaul

        "The Maternal Instinct" is another story written by V.S. Naipaul. It tells about a woman named Laura who had 8 children from 7 different men. She is a very happy woman that loves her children, though it does not seem like it when she talks to them.One night her eldest daughter named Lorna anounced that she was pregnant. This made Laura transform into a depressed, sad and ashamed person.
        According to the narrator, Laura is a whore. She loves her children and does not want them to end up being like her. That is why she struggles to give them the best she can. This can be seen when Laura says:"It have nothing like education in the world. I don’t want my children to grow like me". On the other hand, she treated her children badly by talking very rude to them and beating them, she did not give them a good example. When Lorna becomes pregnant Laura realized that her daughter was following in her footsteps by following her mother's example instead of her advice and sacrifice. Laura becomes so upset and ashamed of herself and her example that she  completely changes her way of being. She is no longer a happy person and does not even go out of her house. This leads her daughter into committing suicide. The mother is so depressed that she believes her daughter's death was a good outcome.
        Laura believed that by providing her children with the best she could give them and by giving them "stern" discipline, they would become better people in the future. She ignored the fact that her example was very important in the formation of them and that they would pay more attention to her example. This is evidenced when Boyee says:"I don’t see why she so mad about that. She does do the same".This made her pay a very hard price. We can learn from this story that our example is more important than our will and words.

5 comments:

  1. I really liked your point of view and the way you wrote this entry.

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    1. Do you think how they raised Luara has something to do with the way she treats her children? I liked when you mentioned that the example that our role models gives us is very important. I would like to hear more about the situation of Laura with her kids and what would you do. As I was reading this post it made me think about how the mothers raise their children and the good example they have to give them.

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  2. I like your point of view of the role of a typical mother and the role that Laura play. Almost all the parents want they children to have better lifestyle to don't make the mistakes they do. Like when you say that Laura realize that her daughter are following her steps because that's the part when I believe that Laura see all her life in a flashback and see the pain that her daughter can suffer. Good job!

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  3. "We can learn from this story that our example is more important than our will and words." I want to know how do you feel about the Laura's role. I think that sometimes the children were we wrong but the we need our parents to support us in that moment.
    You said that she loves her children?

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  4. What is the reason that you believe that the mother thought that the death of her daughter was a good outcome?
    I think that she thought like that because she may think that her daughter may have become a prostitute like her too.
    I like this sentence: "She ignored the fact that her example was very important in the formation of them and that they would pay more attention to her example"
    I also like your summary it's very easy to understand and also I like your point of view, that's what I think too. "We can learn from this story that our example is more important than our will and words."
    Nasherine Flores

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