A child brings joy only to a woman capable of disinterested transcendence.

Evidence

I have said that the curse weighing on marriage is that individuals too often join together in their weakness and not in their strength, that each one asks of the other rather than finding pleasure in giving. It is an even more deceptive lure to dream of attaining through a child a plenitude, warmth, and value one is incapable of creating oneself; it can bring joy only to the woman capable of disinterestedly wanting the happiness of another, to the woman who seeks to transcend her own existence without any reward for her. To be sure, a child is an undertaking one can validly aspire to; but like any other undertaking, it does not represent a justification in itself; and it must be desired for itself, not for hypothetical benefits. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1531

Categorization

• DEFINE: Clarifies the recurring existentialist distinction: transitive (other-directed, ‘transcending her own existence’) vs. gratuitous motivation, applied to parenthood.
• XREF: Echoes the marriage critique from earlier chapters (join in weakness vs. strength) — an internal consistency worth flagging. — connects to: A child’s face moves us because it affirms transcendence as a project; An unfulfilled mother displaces her frustrated desires onto her child as compensation. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1515

Broader Connections

• An unfulfilled mother displaces her frustrated desires onto her child as compensation. #complicates (0.80) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1515
• A child’s face moves us because it affirms transcendence as a project #expands (0.75)