Motherhood

Throughout the novel, Jerkins thematically examines motherhood. When Laila visits the Melancon home toward the outset of the narrative, Iris has an episode and begins speaking with voices that the others cannot hear. She tells Laila that her children “miss [her] and that they’re sorry” (25). Iris assures Laila that the “bottom line is [she is] still a mother. [She] still a mother” (25). The author enacts this moment in the text to assert that motherhood manifests in a multitude of different forms. Without having children, Laila has experienced caring for a baby and losing a baby. Her pain and love are no less poignant or legitimate without having had a successful pregnancy.

The author continues to explore the complexity of motherhood through Helena and Iris’s relationship. When Helena was a child, her mother left her at the zoo. While her actions seemed callous to the...