Irish Mother and Baby Homes’ fostered children reconstructing their past in Phyllis Whitsell’s "My Secret Mother" (2015) and "A Song for Bridget" (2018)

Abstract

Considered “outcasts”, unmarried mothers were secluded in Mother and Baby Homes and Magdalene Laundries during the twentieth century, where they were deprived of their children (Luddy 2011: 109-126). Phyllis Whitsell’s My Secret Mother (2015) and A Song for Bridget (2018) explore the Mother and Baby Homes regime of power, which rendered thousands of women in Ireland in a vulnerable position, and the adoption business the nuns had, which deprived thousands of women of their right to be mothers (Garrett 2010: 330-343). In this article our intention is to explore the trauma caused in both unmarried mothers and illegitimate children by the Irish Catholic system of correction and what sources of healing are offered to them in restoring their identities in the aftermath of their release. To that aim, we will employ Trauma Studies.

Keywords

• mother and baby homes
• vulnerability
• trauma
• healing
• identity