Mothers resent daughters’ youth because it signals their own decline

Evidence

The older the child gets, the more this bitterness eats at the mother’s heart; every year brings the mother closer to her decline; from year to year the youthful body develops and flourishes; this future opening up to her daughter seems to be stolen from the mother; this is why some mothers become irritated when their daughters first get their period: they begrudge their consecration from now on as newly become women. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1526

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the ‘sacrifice’ motif in the reader’s library — the mother’s sacrificed life being devalued by her daughter’s freedom resembles sacrificial dynamics discussed elsewhere. — connects to: Mothers can treat their own daughters as rivals to be defeated — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1728

Broader Connections

• Mothers can treat their own daughters as rivals to be defeated #expands (0.85) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1728