What would you think if your Mum sent you this?

[Autumnleavesfluttering]

"Perhaps that's how it is for every woman. The repression your female ancestors suffered accumulates over the generations, resentment building in daughter, granddaughter and great-granddaughter like hair clogging a washing machine filter, until along comes a child who is so pumped full of fury that she kicks all obstructions out of the way.

I became the receptacle for her pain, her fury, her bitterness...
I dragged it behind me as an ox drags its plough

• Violette Leduc, La Batarde, 1964

• from a book by Viv Albertine. I haven't read the book, so don't know the wider context.

What do you think it means? In particular, the part about the receptacle for pain etc?

You are the child, carrying her burdens but kicking the obstacles out if the way.

She is proud of you for doing the things she couldn’t.

Agree with what Last Starfighter said. Seems positive to me.

Yes agree also. I think it's a positive thing to consider

To do with the Mother Wound?

What’s the context.

Sounds like a positive feminist view of society to me, that generation after generation the new crop of women are stronger in their conviction to change the world, powered by the accumulated pain/frustrations of previous generations.

I don’t understand why can’t you ask her?

Her hopes are on you being the child who will grow to strike back at the repression her generation and before, suffered.

That as a child she saw you full of anger, and felt that anger was channeled in her direction.

But then, turning to the feminist stance perhaps elaborated this could be:

That, as a child, you were a force that would not tolerate any obstruction, that she admired that in you and was happy to absorb your fury to help you reach your goals and overcome the traditional chattels of the past.

Sounds positive to me. Family dynamics and be passed down through generations until one person is able to stay this stops here, this is not me, this is not who I am or want to be and breaks the cycle.

My mum would never understand that let alone send it

Well then OP given your update she would've thought you'd appreciate it. I'd think it was awesome if my mum sent me something like this.

I’d think the charity shop ran out of books with Fabio on the front.

@Bluntness100

I don’t understand why can’t you ask her?

Yes, I don't understand this myself either. The only explanation I have is that we have had some very difficult periods in our relationship in the past. As a result, I am extremely wary of talking with her about anything to do with sensitive areas in our relationship, and this feels alarmingly like it might be close to one of those sensitive areas.

It feels almost like pressing on a very old bruise. It's nearly gone but it still gives a twinge of pain which is in itself surprising, because you thought it was fully healed.

Not a big deal but I'm still unravelling some stuff, clearly.

I'd just think it's a quote that really resonates with her and she is sharing with you as a means of reflection on the relationship you two have had.

Or could she be trying to tell you about her relationship with her own mother, how it affected her and now passes down to you? Surely what she sent you warrants a response, would she not want to talk about it at all?

I would read it as a feminist statement that women have been mistreated but the resentment grows down the generations til the youngest generation fights for equality with men. I think she’s proud of your feminism and wishing she could be more like you

There comes a point at which you stop overanalysing everything your mother does trying to deduce messages. Mine was 21.

Who knows whether she’s trying to tell you something or she found it page turny. I wouldn’t sweat it either way.

I'd assume she's been on the Bucky.

How does it feel like pressing on a bruise if you don't understand the meaning or intention behind it? Sorry, I'm not trying to be a dick!

Your mother sent you that? She feels you think she scapegoated you because she had issues if her own . Did she?

I’d quite enjoy the high brow conversation that would accompany such a quote.

Realise I am in the minority but I agree with PP "27VettiyaIruken

Sounds like she's trying to justify being a twat towards you."

@Sweetmotherofallthatisholyabov

So like in Ireland maybe women now pull the burden of mother and baby homes behind us and carry that pain and resentment even though it didn't happen to us, or women being denied abortion, or general shit rights. And even though I'm educated and experience equal rights etc I feel the resentment of the past.

I know I do pull the burden have great resentment of mother and baby home and illegal adoptions from the UK...Somebody really needs to answer that and help us find our family

The quote relates to feminism, being angry about injustices suffered as women by your mother and your mother's mother, not just injustices you have faced:

books.google.co.uk/books?id=Oq5BDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT46&lpg=PT46&dq=Violette+Leduc,+La+Batarde,+1964++became+the+receptacle+for+her+pain,+her+fury,+her+bitterness...+I+dragged+it+behind+me+as+an+ox+drags+its+plough&source=bl&ots=1xw2HmxcYG&sig=ACfU3U2dqtlJjU1fugZiRjCHaD_dTXW0bQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjVmLLv-IftAhXDmFwKHe09DQwQ6AEwBXoECAEQAg#v=onepage&q=Violette%20Leduc%2C%20La%20Batarde%2C%201964%20%20became%20the%20receptacle%20for%20her%20pain%2C%20her%20fury%2C%20her%20bitterness...%20I%20dragged%20it%20behind%20me%20as%20an%20ox%20drags%20its%20plough&f=false

I guess what she means depends whether your mother sees herself as the "daughter" or the "mother".