"To a Child in Time of Small War" In "To a Child in Time of Small War"; a woman is left by her husband to go to fight in the war. The woman was left pregnant and is not to thrilled about the burden of a child or maybe just scared to love it because of what it represents. Why wouldn't a mother want to give birth to her child in a time of war. She hears no word from her husband and slowly gives up on him. The child is left with her and her alone to take care and love.
One of the greatest gifts God has given to woman is that they can bear offspring. Well this woman seems to be dreading that experience for some reason. Could it be that she doesn't want a child to be born in a world of war? She did just lose her husband to go fight and hasn't heard from him in sometime.
Pregnancy in the 26th week.
A pregnant woman
Husband CrècheShe could be afraid that her child will have the same fate as her husband. She tells us how much she loves her husband and think of her hurt if her child was to go through the same thing. So she has her child and it grows up in a world still filled with war, who is to say they won't take this child away to fight. If she gave all of her love to her husband and he never came back, and she then loved her child with the same love to see it taken by the same war. What would she look to after this had happened to her twice? The solution might be not to accept this child incase it ever has to leave; so then she wouldn't really be losing anything. This child might represent the end of what love she shared with her husband.
The birth of the child could mean that her husband is never coming back and she has lost him forever. So the days count down to when the child is born and the mother grows more anxious. She tells of how the different seasons bring different variations of her view of the birth. At the beginning she is more concerned about the developments with her husband and is waiting for him. As the seasons go on with the pregnancy she slowly moves toward a mothers concern rather than a wives. As the days get closer to the birth of their child she seems to get use to the idea of not having a husband. She is to the point of giving up when she realizes he will never come back. "Nothing of you is his, you are all of me, your sex, gray eye, the struggle to be free that made your birth like a death," the birth of this child marked the end of a marriage and a partnership in raising a child. Saying that the child is all hers is a statement that she is to raise the child not both them. Raise a child in a time when two parents couldn't even raise their own child because of a war.
Maybe this woman doesn't want a child to grow up in a world where you find the person you love but war takes them. She might not want to show the child how to love so that it won't get so attached to someone and then lose him or her. She questions why even have children if they must grow up in a world of war. She thinks she might could save her child some heartache and not let it love.
This is not a bad mother for not wanting the child at first, maybe she is to concerned with what the child's best interests are. Her questioning the pregnancy could be her protection for the baby. It could be the woman is selfish in that when she has the child it will be the mark of the end of her marriage. The birth of one could mean the death of another loved one. She may not want to accept the fact that she has lost her husband to a war. The one thing she does is love her daughter.
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