1. Objectifs

Intentions :
In this chapter, author analyzed motherhood in Grégoire Chabot’s “A Life Lost”. She draws on «material from historical and critical scholarly works to give a sense of the context of [main character’s] world and her French Canadian heritage.» (p. 60)

2. Méthode

Échantillon/Matériau :
This chapter primarily focus on Grégoire Chabot’s “A Life Lost” (2006). The author also touches «upon a second play, which Chabot cowrote with Jean-Claude Redonnet in 2013: “Jeanne et Osithée / Parallèles croisées.”» (p. 59) Moreover, she uses «sources that deal with Québécois and Franco-American history and culture, as the two were intimately interconnected due to travel, cultural exchange, and common French texts.» (p. 60)

Type de traitement des données :
Analyse littéraire

3. Résumé

In these books, «Chabot and Redonnet point to an alternate vision of motherhood, one that acknowledges the harsh realities and grim situation of many women. Debunking the “myth of pious and pure French-Canadian women” […], Zithée, [the main character,] bolstered by Jeanne’s rebellious nature, now has more space to question this myth. Chabot holds the traditional family values up to a different litmus test, perhaps to focus more on a new future than return to an idealized (mythic) past that never existed.» (p. 71) «Chabot’s play highlights the stark contrast between the idealization of mothers—and the myths surrounding them—and the sobering reality of their lives. Zithée’s portrayal as a mother stands in opposition to the image of French Canadian women promoted by the religious elite as “guardians of all that made for French-Canadian cultural superiority in North America[, holding] the key to the survival of religion, morality, education, and the family” […].» (p. 58) In sum, the «theme of childbearing in Chabot’s “A Life Lost” underscores the devastating effects of this philosophy [of survivance], but in an individual, personal context. Mourning the loss of her own mother, who died in childbirth with her seventeenth child, Zithée fears the same fate, nearly certain that she, too, is pregnant with her seventeenth child.» (p. 62)