Bennett presents motherhood as a fraught concept closely linked in the community’s collective imagination to concepts of womanhood and femininity. By contrasting characters who reject, desire, and perform maternal roles, the novel examines how the idea of motherhood becomes a powerful marker of identity and belonging, with both constructive and destructive consequences. Bennett portrays motherhood as a contested ideal whose weight shapes the characters’ lives.

For Nadia, motherhood represents a burden that must be actively rejected to achieve personal freedom. Her decision to terminate the pregnancy is a definitive choice to escape what she sees as a predetermined, confining path. She tells Luke, “I can’t be someone’s fucking mother, I’m going to college” (12), framing teenage motherhood as a direct threat to her ambition. This rejection is informed by the legacy of her own mother, Elise, whose death by suicide the community interprets as the ultimate maternal abandonment. Nadia internalizes the lesson that early motherhood can derail a life: Her mother, too, became pregnant while still a teen, and she describes herself as “her mother’s mistake” (12), suggesting that motherhood is a sacrifice that can lead to self-destruction. 

Though the concept of motherhood is in large part defined by the community, its meaning also depends on the context of each woman’s individual life. Nadia is a teen when she becomes pregnant by accident. For her, the pregnancy is a threat to all her future plans. By contrast, Aubrey pursues the goal of motherhood from a position of much greater stability. She views motherhood as a profound aspiration, a way to heal the wounds of her own childhood. Having been failed by her own mother, who did not protect her from abuse, Aubrey’s intense desire to have a child is a yearning to create the stable, loving family she was denied. For her, becoming a mother is an act of reclamation, a chance to build a life of safety and care. This desire is juxtaposed with the communal mothering performed by the church mothers, who embody a watchful and often judgmental form of maternal care, policing the behavior of the younger women. Collectively, the women serve as mothers to the community, making motherhood a public performance subject to their approval. Their gossip and oversight transform the personal choice of mothering into a social role with strict, unforgiving expectations.

By placing these conflicting perspectives in tension, Bennett reveals the immense psychological weight the idea of motherhood carries for women. It is simultaneously a symbol of confinement and a beacon of hope, a private desire and a public expectation. The novel demonstrates that whether motherhood is pursued, refused, or lost, its specter remains a powerful force in shaping female identity and destiny.