The Guilt and Loneliness of Motherhood: “[…] pris am ei rhyddid a’i hannibyniaeth yw unigrwydd ac euogrwydd […] bris oedd gwerth ei dalu.” (Jane Edwards, Bara Seguryd)

Jane Edwards’ novels Bara Seguryd (1969) and Dros Fryniau Bro Afallon (1976) reflect the struggles and revolution in women’s reproductive rights, and their new-found ability to choose what they did with their own bodies, either through the introduction of the contraceptive pill or the legalisation of abortion. Despite this change, the pressures and expectations on women to be mothers, and to carry the tradition of The Welsh Mam, remained. This, in turn, led to feelings of guilt, of loneliness, and a further distance between expectations of a different future and the reality of expected motherhood. Although new opportunities emerged, allowing women to have control over their bodies, it further exacerbated the pressure for them to be wives and mothers.

This paper will examine the impact of a different age for women, through the experiences of young women in Jane Edwards’ two novels, and how this allows feelings of guilt and loneliness to develop at a time of supposed liberation for women’s autonomy of their bodies. With references to Saunders Lewis’ Monica and Rhys Davies’ short story ‘The Nightgown’, this paper will discuss the development of loneliness, and the feeling of ‘otherness’ that motherhood, or impending motherhood, brings; a feeling of growing distance that cannot be easily bridged.