More than a Mother

More than a Mother is a collection of creative nonfiction letters and personal reflections, based on my mother's experiences. My mother is one of the strongest people I know, and I've looked up to her as a positive influence for many years. Throughout the letters I illuminate different aspects of my mother's life that have shaped who she is today. I write about her through a matricentric feminist lens, depicting the complexity of motherhood in order to broaden people's perspectives of their mothers. While the letters have a theoretical underpinning of matricentric feminism, they also serve as advice regarding change, resilience, and love. Alongside life advice, I emphasize personal reflections in showing how my understanding of her continues to grow as I reach adulthood. As I reflect on my childhood when I didn't understand how much my mother was struggling, I would like to make people more aware of mothers' multifaceted lives. I think it's important to recognize and uplift mothers' stories, as they are often underappreciated, and their struggles underremarked. With my thesis I hope to help people see mothers as something more than their maternal roles, by depicting their inner lives that can be overlooked by their children and society.