The plot in this short story “ A sorrowful Woman” by Gail Godwin is center around the idea of marriage and motherhood. Marriage, in most society, is a life-fulfilling dream for most women; it is much like a fairy tale: find a prince charming, get married, have children and leave happily ever after. However the ironic in this story is that the fairy tale actually went wrong.

The author begins actually with an epigram emphasizing the ironic of the plot “ once upon a time, there was a wife and a mother one too many”. Those last words tell everything about how this fairy tale is unusually because instead of a leaving happily ever after, the protagonist is au contraire very sad. The author doesn’t say much about her life before childbirth, however some passages presume that she had a beautiful and harmonious life before having a child “the man took is wife to dinner; they dressed and were beautiful again together”

The author describe marriage as an imprisonment and a source of sickness. Her home life and household shores became a burden. She move away from her husband and stopped doing her shores; her home life seemed to suffocate

Society expects at lot from the mother, men usually underestimate the lot of works women go trough to fulfill their role of mother. Actually, men are not totally in fault because till you go through a pregnancy and labor, you cannot understand what it really means to be a mother. It doesn’t stop them, after the birth, Mothers have to care for the new babies and still be wives for their husbands at the same time. I can understand how it seems so easy from the outside. In many societies, the man is not a part of child-care, all burden lies upon the wife. Unfortunately in industrial society, you do not have a consistent help around the house so you can rest or recuperate from child labor. Moreover, it is a fact that after child-birth, most women go through that is known as “ baby blues” a deep depression that occur due to hormone unbalance and other stuffs that come with pregnancy. Usually the symptoms are mood suing, crying and feeling useless. Those usually started with the pregnancy and goes persist after birth. For some women, this “ baby blue” can be severe and require medications or sometime hospitalization. The key is to recognize the symptoms and act quickly before it is too late. Unfortunately, this woman didn’t have that opportunity. She went through her depression alone till it was too late to express herself to her loving husband. Perhaps by admitting that she wasn’t up to her role was unacceptable. Who does? She righter lie then admit she had fail her husband and son. But one thing she was unaware of is that both husband and child knew of all the

Some topics in this essay:
Gail Godwin, , fairy tale, husband child, “ sorrowful, women “ baby, “ sorrowful woman”, au contraire, mothers care, child described, wife mother, women “, care child, “ baby,