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48 Strindberg
"
The Father
"
contains two basic truths.
Motherhood, much praised, poetized, and hailed
as a wonderful thing, is in reality very often the
greatest deterrent influence in the life of the child.
Because it is not primarily concerned with the po
tentialities of character and growth of the child;
on the contrary, it is interested chiefly in the birth-
giver, that is, the mother. Therefore, the
mother is the most subjective, self-centered and
conservative obstacle. She binds the child to her
self with a thousand threads which never grant
sufficient freedom for mental and spiritual ex
pansion. It is not necessary to be as bitter as
Strindberg to realize this. There are of course
exceptional mothers who continue to grow with
the child. But the average mother is like the hen
with her brood, forever fretting about her chicks
if they venture a step away from the coop. The
mother enslaves with kindness, a bondage
harder to bear and more difficult to escape than
the brutal fist of the father.
Strindberg himself experienced it, and nearly
every one who has ever attempted to outgrow the
soul strings of the mother.
In portraying motherhood, as it really is, Au
gust Strindberg is conveying a vital and revolu
tionary message, namely, that true motherhood,
even as fatherhood, does not consist in molding
the child according to one s image, or in imposing
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