Channels • 2021 • Volume 5 • Number 2 Page 21 Maternal Identification Psychological Unity Between Mother and Daughter Entwined mother-daughter psyches often restrict daughters from psychological independence, and thus, result in maternal identification. Model filial development involves an initial “phase…characterized by oneness between the child and the mother” (Dobie 118). Differentiation—the process of obtaining an individualized sense of identity independent of the mother—typically separates the twos’ psyches gradually through childhood (118). However, since “women tend to identify more strongly with their girl children,” this ongoing connectivity can obstruct differentiation, leaving the “continuity of identity with the mother” to linger into adult life as the mother overwhelmingly “communicates an identity to the [daughter]” (Flax, The Conflict 174; Flax, Mother-Daughter Relationships 3; Hunter 473). Such juncture results in maternal identification where daughters “do not experience such a distinct disidentification,” which “hinders the development of a sense of separation” (Nagl-Docekal 113). This enduring identification is personal, specific to the “mother's general traits of character and values” (Chodorow 52). As such, the mother structures the daughter’s decisions, morals, and feelings rather than the daughter herself, perpetuating a continuity between the two that pervades the psyche and relegates mothers and daughters to a state of psychological oneness (Wright 81). The daughter’s failure to construct an independent sense of self leaves her to rely upon her mother’s precedent. Ash and Her Mother in Neverhome Hunt displays this hindering maternal identification in his novel through Ash’s unwavering ties to her deceased mother’s values. In a memory from her childhood, Ash recalls her interactions with an older boy who used to hassle her whenever she went to town. One day specifically, he pushed her into a puddle, and upon returning home with “the front of [her] clothes dark brown,” her mother “grabbed [her] good by the ear and whispered into it hard: ‘We do not ever turn our cheek’” (Hunt 47). This harsh instruction from her mother to always remember grievances and seek vengeance follows Ash later in life. She recalls her mother’s advice throughout the novel, such as when she smashes her mother’s teapot as revenge for turning her over to the insane asylum (170), sternly opposes the jeering mob at her neighbor’s porch (227), seeks to kill the sheriff who had spearheaded the mob (224225), and violently shoots the men overrunning her farm (232-234). Though daughters typically heed advice from their mothers as a result of maternal socialization, Ash’s stark adherence to this instruction points to a deeper, more pervasive tie to her mother; her loyalty is synonymous with identification because she clings to her mother’s orders even when they breed destruction or violence. This unwavering obedience reveals that Ash would rather prioritize her continued maternal connection than independently evaluate the advice’s value. As such, Ash’s determination to “not ever turn [her] cheek” throughout the remainder of the novel points back to the initial subject of her mother’s command: “we” (47). Ash holds grudges and seeks vengeance in reverence of her mother rather than by independent conviction, and hence, perpetuates her identification with her mother in value
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