Still Born : Guadalupe Nettel

 

Guadalupe Nettel's mothers in Still Born are more inclusive and unflinching than Eva Baltasar's mothers in Boulder. I am so much touched by the novel which is dealt with familial relationship with delicate and elegant.

PART-ONE

 I. Not being a mother is not a choice in our society.

 II. If any one wishes to do so like other not-to-list then one be answerable.

 III. If we want to follow our mind we must prepare our body for that. ( Laura's ovary removal surgery )

 IV. Alina's decision to take motherhood as her profession brings an ideological rift with Laura.

 V. Alina's conception gives a joy for Laura. We cannot be apart when our beloved has a bliss of life.

 VI. The most parts of "violence begets violence" are farmed in the families. Child rearing consumes the most parts of a life in suffering and sacrifice.

 VII."There are beings without whom we simply cannot conceive of ourselves in this world." on Alina's part in Laura's life. This kind of realization gives life a deep meaning. Everyone should have one in life.

 VIII. With pregnancy a woman goes through the biological transformations so complex can be. They survive this journey is magic that no other living beings possibly don't face at this degree.

 IX. Inés' gestation and movements bring a joyful cry for Alina. This extraordinary feeling is reserved for only a woman.

 X. A mother has to be a boulder with profound tolerance. Being pregnant is natural but being a mother is cultural. One has to learn and cultivate it.

 XI. "The child brings joy to your life, showers you with unconditional love and makes you a better person.’

 & 

"It's important to have someone to love, someone to take care of. It makes us less selfish."

  Humans haven't discovered or are complying with other options to replace these ways of motherhood and marriage yet for the majority numbers.

 Coping with pigeons is symbolic and parabolic for having marriage and children in life.

 Xii. Scanning Inés' brain cortical development is one of the hundreds of irregularities, malfunctions and threats for the baby a mother has to face.  Men are from this like many barriers.

 Xiii.  Laura is advancing to be mother-like to Nicolàs, the next door neighbor. It's a real twist as a woman's inclination to be motherly.

 Xiv. What  if a heart without a brain lives. Laura's insistence to keep Inés full term is the proof of love a woman can possess only.

 Xv. We were born just to die one day. The meaningful thing is to live in between.

 Xvi. What Laura proposed to Doris about Nicolas is from the out and out motherly compassion.

 Xvii. Hope is not light like a feather at all.

 Xviii. Alina's decision to bear the death and the burial as much as the birth by her own shoulder is narrated with subtlety.

 Xix. The one egg short narrative symbolizes the uncertainty of Ines' terminal illness.

 Xx The park episode is an epitome of how our familial bonding grows up if we share our time with care and intimacy.

Xxi. The best strategy is to accept the truth as it, or it will swarm with pains and 

 Xxii. Alina's resolution to hold back herself to flow with the trend where most women are showing off the pictures of their baby bumps and trimesters' updates on social media is very personal and heartrending.

 Xxiii. Sometimes we come close to each other during our time and know ourselves better as Laura and Doris had in the middle of the night.

 Xxiv. Inés is on the way to our earth

 Xxv.  A journal of hollow feelings and   Inés is still alright.

 Xxvi. Feeding is still formulated so Alina has time to consider it.

 Xxvii. Some people like Doris forget how to be happy and some people like Nicolas can't just stay away from families.

Xxviii. Inés, don't stay longer in this strange world with these strange people. No one finds happiness in a hostile world.

Xxix. Only a mother can take the toughest decision in the world.

PART-TWO

I.  When I read about the existence of consciousness with the body, it was a philosophical inquiry but it feels so real and certain when I have read in the novel. Recently, the world is very concerned over Artificial Intelligence but I assume what will happen if AIs achieve to possess their own consciousness or even free will to act. Will there be war between AI & human intelligence.

II. Impermanence is the ultimate truth, even death is not permanent at all the time. I have written some poems over the theme of death, which are published in international journals all over the world, so I feel a bit that it is deep in the emotional level to live your day thinking about death. 

III.  Some people are so indulged in other’s lives to make them better, being so selfless, with tons of uncertainty. 

IV. Then genetics perhaps not permanent in structure and any deformations are not unnatural rather they are possibly the innovation humans can give a warm welcome.  

V. I am shaken after knowing the rescheduling of Alina’s daily routine.

Vi. Has Laura turned into a proxy mother or she is just acting as a wonderful woman.

Vii. Nothing can surpass nature's whims.

Viii. To make a work-life balance in such a critical situation is the toughest one as I have been facing a crisis on myself. But Alina will find someone beside her but I have made adjustments by myself.

Ix. The behavioral patterns before and after marriage are so common things I have observed around me. I have heard a Doris-like story even in my family that love is sufficient for keeping a marriage life fair.

X. What can medicine say without updating technology to diagnosis.

Xi. Because you’ll judge me. You always do, and I’m sick and tired of that.’ So no relationship is out of toxicity.

Xii. Why did Inés hold back its pace?

Xiii.So finally Laura became a proxy mother 

Xiv. In the worst of times the known becomes sometimes the unknown one, the stranger becomes the dearest one.

 Xv." We daughters have a tendency to see in our mother’s mistakes the source of all our problems, and our mothers tend to consider our defects as proof of a possible failure. So as to avoid conflict"

 Xvi. I strongly believe that giving birth to children doesn't ensure that one is capable of developing a child. It takes good training and instinct to be worthwhile.

 Xvii. Marene, the caregiver & Dr. Salazar, the physiotherapist, are purely professional at their methods. It's a new kind of understanding for me.

 Xviii.  Marlene's desperation during the earthquake is mind cracking. A sign of a true human being whose duties and compassions are at her top priority.

 Xx. I know this rift and tension between women very well and it doesn't end well.

 Xxi. The references of violence against women are omnipresent in all kinds of art forms in Mexico.

 Xxii.El Noa Noa: I felt a huge relief knowing Inés' progress.

 Xiv. vial is on Alina's mind both for the baby and the daddy. A suspicion and insecurity can drag a person in uncalculated situations.

 Xxv. The reconciliation between Alina and Aurelio of the conjugal life at last sorted in the bed.

 Inés utters Lena not mom or dad.

 Xxvi. I have been observing that the world is full of substitute mothers.

 Xix. I first heard about the brood parasitism

 Xxx.  That's a human tragedy that sometimes adults get more vegetative in the mind than the children who have to suffer the consequences.

 Xxxi.I also being married and having children are "social commandments". One should enjoy the liberty not to do things like.

 Xxxiii. I have almost sighed after knowing Nicolas loves Doris a lot.

 Xxxv. Human resistance is magic even in the vegetative stage.

 Xxxvi - viii. I wish I had a neighbor like Laura.

 XL.  When we are in our full liberty it is not so easy to change the status quo whatever we try to make change.

Still Born  2022]

La hija única [2020]

Guadalupe Nettel

Trans. by Rosalind Harvey

Spanish, Mexico