"Mother to the tribe" by Marge Piercy

Throughout time people have been questioning their society. Many wonder if the beliefs and customs of their culture are actually what is in the interest of themselves or even the masses. Times of hardship can create strong and powerful people to bring about change; however the means to achieve such is relevant to ones morals or ethics. For many would agree utilitarianism is the best route to take when trying to appease most individuals; however what can be the consequences of such 'happiness'? Marge Piercy attempts to create a utopian society that practices this idea, but to achieve such a success many present social beliefs must be annihilated. Mothering plays a major theme in Piercy's novel Woman on the Edge of Time. She not only uses a mother as the main character, but creates a whole utopian society based on the mother. Piercy contributes this novel as a political statement to address the hardships and social injustices of the powerless.

Utopian flying machines, France, 1890-1900 (chromo...

Connie's Country

English: Connie Mack, as manager of the Philadelph...

Woman on the Edge of Time is a story of a middle aged Chicano woman who has been denied the right to live with the socially prudent. According to Kevstin Shands, Piercy says: 'It is primarily a novel about Connie. There's a lot about social injustice in it, and about how a woman stops hating herself and becomes able to love herself enough to fight for her own survival' (66). In Marge Piercy's Woman on the Edge of Time the motif of mothering is the basis of the story; she uses a mother as the protagonist and creates a utopian society based on the strength of the nurturing.

To see how the mother theme is woven throughout the story one must observe how Connie is in the present, as well as the future. In the present Connie is...