Passing - Motherhood and Security Flashcards
“pale, small girl sitting
on a ragged blue sofa .. while her drunken father raged threateningly”
“I was expected to earn my
keep by doing all the housework and most of the washing”
“I wanted a girl. So did Fred.”
“Isn’t that a bit unusual? Most men want sons. Egotism, I suppose”
“Well, Fred didn’t”
“I’ll never risk it again.
Too hellish”
“I nearly died of terror the whole nine months
before Margery was born for fear that she might be dark”
“but, of course,
nobody wants a dark child”
“but, of course,
nobody wants a dark child”
“You can get as black as you please as far as I’m concerned
since I know you’re no n-. I draw the line at that. No n- in my family”
“obliterated by
her consciousness of the danger” (of John Bellew)
“obliterated by
her consciousness of the danger” (of John Bellew)
“I’m beginning to believe that noone
is every completely happy, or free, or safe”
“being a mother is the
cruellest thing in the world”
“we mothers are responsible for the
security and happiness of our children”
“actually, she didnt’ count. She was, to him,
only the mother of his sons. that was all. alone, she was nothing”
“it was enough to suffer as a woman without having
to suffer for the race aswell”
