Week 6- Narayan

Pryanka Narayan

ASA 198

Week 6                                                My Mother Not My Mother

                        The article My Mother Not My Mother was a very disheartening article as it discussed the foreign relationship a woman felt with her mother. For instance, the young woman was primarily raised by her grandparents in Sài Gòn,  while her mother worked in America. As a young child, she longed for her mother’s love but felt comforted by her grandparents. One day as she was retrieving Ritz cookies from a U.S. Army PX spill out, she saw a black van and thinking inside was her mother, she chased it. She ran and ran, but the van never stopped, and while it never confirmed her mother was inside, the young girl felt an immense sense of abandonment from her mother. One day her mother came to visit Sài Gòn and decided to bring her daughter to the U.S. to be with her and her new step-dad. While the young girl was excited to travel, she missed the love her grandparents gave her. While the young girl was feeling homesick, she still felt as she had a foreign relationship with her mother. As she never knew why her mother left her with her grandparents, and her mother was not accustomed to raising a daughter. Years down the road, she learned the truth of the betrayal her mother had faced due to the young girl’s father. The young girl’s father had persisted on the mother to have an abortion, but despite his attempts, she still decided to have the young girl. After learning the hardships her mother had endured, she felt respect and love for her mother, but still felt the foreignness. Personally, after reading this article, I found it to be so sad. I felt terrible for the mother who was betrayed by her partner, and despite everything that she went through to have her daughter, still had no idea who she was. I admired her mother’s strength and resilience, but also understood the daughter’s plight. I do hope that another piece is written, or something to inform the status of their relationship, years down the road because I am very curious.

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