One of the factors that may lead a pregnant woman to abortion is her “illiteracy” in matters of the heart. Both her heart and the heart of her would-be child are implied. The woman’s understanding of the close interconnection between her heart and the heart of her fetus will reduce her possible emotional and physical hostility to the unborn.
In Containing Women: Reproductive Discourse in the 1980s (1991) by Valerie Hartouni’s the idea of importance of metaphorical link between the heart of the would-be mother and her child is the leading one: “Situated in opposition to the supposedly unsituated gaze of technology is the second term of the antinomy, the truly situated gaze of women, directed not toward the uterus, but toward the heart and the heart as it exists, not in some physiological sense, of course, but metaphorically.” (Hartouni 40) Genetically, it is in women’s power to “read” the hearts of others and to penetrate into their most sacred mysteries. This ability acquires especial importance when a woman is pregnant. A woman should develop this ability of her but should direct it to her fetus.
Etymologically, heart derives from Greek terms “kardian” or “cura”, meaning care or concern. The importance of heart is not rooted in its biological functions only but in its moral significance as well. Heart thus becomes both the object and the subject of one’s love, care and support. Motherhood is the source of life and strength for the fetus, in other words, it is the whole system of developing one’s own heart and the heart of a child. Abortion in this case appears to be a means to break this system and to deprive potential mother from the opportunity to feel the joy of motherhood. Instead, if women’s abilities to “read” the hearts are linked to their uteruses, women will not only develop the ability to create life but to preserve it as well.
In the novel My Year of Meats (1999) by Ruth Ozeki we find ideas that are rather contradictory to the one offered in Hartouni’s work. Through the perspective of making the TV show My American Wife focusing on beef industry we observe how society demands other women, not the ones whose primary concern is motherhood. The woman should “be attractive, appetizing, and all-American. She is the Meat Made Manifest: ample, robust yet never tough nor hard to digest.” (Ozeki 8) With such an assumption of women there is no need to speak of women’s abilities to “read” hearts of others and their unborns, in particular. Moreover, how can possibly there be any understanding of motherhood as a moral duty in this case?
The main character of the novel, Jane, is involved in creation of the above-mentioned show. “When the phone rang at two in the morning, [she] didn’t bother to answer.” (Ozeki 25) When she gets an invitation to work in the show her feelings are controversial and ambiguous. As the time of program making goes by Jane becomes more and more aware of different aspects of meat industry and at the same time her perception of the program changes. When Jane discovers that it is DES which wreaks her uterus she decides to sabotage the program. This was her heart that showed her the right way.
Running parallel to Jane’s story is that of Akiko Ueno, whose husband is the embodiment of the filth and lust, “feeds” her with DES hormone that does not make any good for her. No matter how strong Akiko’s desire to give birth is she cannot do it because of her sickness. In this sense Akiko’s feelings are akin to Hartouni’s vision of fertility not only in terms of biology but as giving birth through heart love as well. One can observe the sorrow of a woman who cannot give birth and draw parallels with those who deliberately deprive themselves from the happiness of motherhood.
Thus, in the two works under consideration the problem of motherhood is seen through biological and moral perspectives. The works are similar in their understanding of motherhood as biological function, a moral duty and a moral satisfaction, but different approaches are taken to reveal this message. If in Hartouni’s work the emphasis is made on women’s ability to “read” hearts of others, to understand physical and moral interconnection between a would-be mother and fetus’s hearts and to make use of this ability to prevent abortions, Ozeki’s work throws light on the role of women as seen by the contemporary American society. And this role does not presuppose any moral obligation and satisfaction, not to speak of the ability to “read” hearts of others at all.
Works Cited
Ozeki, Ruth L.My Year of Meats. New York: Penguin Books, 1999.
Hartouni, Valerie. “Containing Women: Reproductive Discourse in the 1980s.” Cultural Conceptions on ReproductiveTechnologies and the Remaking of Life. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1997. 26-50.