The story, "Mother's Love: Death without Weeping" by Nancy Scheper-Hughes, discusses infant/young child mortality in Brazil. The others of Bom Jesus guard themselves from the mourning of their children. They do not mourn them but view the frequent occurance as a patron saint claiming its angel. Each year "about 45 percent [of deaths] are of children under the age of five" (Scheper-Hughes 49). When is it safe for a mother to love her child? The seemingly callous mothers are really protecting themselves. Some let themselves cry for the death of their children but it is a sign of weakness. It is also a sign of weakening faith. To be unhappy with the fate of the child is to challenge God's plan.
In history, this process of dissociation has been a common one. English settlers, in colonial America, did not name their babies until after the first year. It was a way to protect the mother against depression if her child died. The same occurs in Bom Jesus. The nation is not medically sound. Doctors mistreat and misdiagnosed young patients. The mother's are practically powerless in the rehabilitation of their infants. The mother's are also forced to put themselves and their "strong" children first. They have to continue to work and provide. Taking care of a struggling infant is a risk in Bom Jesus.
It's hard to judge the mothers of this place. "The average woman of the Alto experiences 9.5 pregnancies, 3.5 child deaths, and 1.5 stillbirths" (Scheper-Hughes 49). To lose a child is basically unnatural. The parents are supposed to raise the child, and the child buries the parent. That is what my father has always told me when we hear of a miscarriage or the death of a child.
Scheper-Hughes, Nancy. "Mother's Love: Death without Weeping." Conformity and Conflict. 4th edition. Pearson Education Inc. 2008. pp. 45-54.
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When you say "to lose a child is basically unnatural" i completely disagree. I mean, look at any other animals, they all lose a child, mourn in their own way (and the Brazilians DO mourn, they just have a profoundly different way of mourning the death).
ReplyDeleteIt's alllll about perspective, mannnnnnn!
When I say it's unnatural, I mean that in the way my dad says it. As a parent, in a perfect world, you expect to have a child, live to see it have its own children, and then you die. Not, you have a child and it dies. Parents prefer to be buried. Not to bury.
ReplyDeleteSteven makes to a great point but I would argue that outside most urban areas in US and in most developing nations the infant mortality rates are high and many children die in their first years. Globally speaking one might say it is unnatural in cultures where mothers have more than 2-3 children for them to survive. The miracle is one aided by prosperity in nations like ours. It's a luxury to have health care available like we do.
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