Mothers who live through their children still depend on another for justification.

Evidence

Even in cases where the child is a treasure within a happy or at least balanced life, he cannot be the full extent of his mother’s horizons. He does not wrest her from her immanence; she shapes his flesh, she supports him, she cares for him: she can do no more than create a situation that solely the child’s freedom can transcend; when she invests in his future, it is again by proxy that she transcends herself through the universe and time; that is, once again she dooms herself to dependency. Not only his ingratitude but the failure of her son will refute all of her hopes: as in marriage or love, she puts the care of justifying her life in the hands of another, whereas the only authentic behavior is to assume it freely herself. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1535

Categorization

• DEFINE: Clarifies ‘immanence’ and ‘transcendence by proxy’ as applied specifically to motherhood — the mother invests in the child’s freedom but remains stuck in her own immanence.
• XREF: Extends the immanence/transcendence apparatus from the introduction and the Sartre/Hegel framing the reader is building in foundational Continental reading. — connects to: Mothers view sons as instruments to justify their own existence — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1724

Broader Connections

• Mothers view sons as instruments to justify their own existence #expands (0.92) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1724