A Mercy Character Analysis

Words: 1578
Pages: 7

“Mother hunger-to be one or to have one-both of them were reeling from that longing which, Lina knew, remained alive-traveling to the bone” (Morrison 63). Lina says this to her surrogate daughter, Florens in the book A Mercy. This is one of many instances in this book that illustrates the effect that becoming a mother has on each of the characters. Motherhood is at the center of this story that shows how the loss and the gain of children changed the women who had them. Children are vital in the patriarchal world in which this story is set; where a women’s worth is determined by the amount of children that they have. Each of the female characters in this book- Sorrow, Rebecca, Lina, Florens, and Florens’ unnamed mother-show in different ways …show more content…
Her own mother gave her up when Jacob Vaark was visiting D’Ortega’s plantation, asking for something to make up for his lost investments. Florens didn’t know the true reason that her mother gave her up and it haunted her for the rest of her live. She often wondered what was wrong with her that made her mother give her up and she searched for her mother’s love and support from everyone that she could. Lina notes that it was Florens sought to gain acceptance and approval from the tasks that she did on the Vaark …show more content…
No story shows this more clearly than A Mercy. Motherhood has an impact on each of the characters in this novel. Each of the characters in this book. plainly exemplify this impact. Sorrow, Rebecca, Lina, Florens, and her mother all have tragic stories about how being or having a mother has changed them. Each character has also felt “mother hunger”- the deep desire to have or be a mother. These characters show what an important responsibility mothers have and what happens when they make the right or the wrong choices and how important it was for women to have children in a male-dominated