In this journal, I will be analyzing Miriam Toews’ novel Summer of My Amazing Luck using Deborah Byrd’s article “Young Mothers.” Toews’ novel revolves around Lucy, a single, poor 18-year old mother who moves into the Have-a-Life housing project, and her journey towards a practice of empowered mothering. Byrd’s article is an overview of research on the subject of young mothers, discussing challenges and possibilities for young mothers. I argue that Toew’s novel offers an empowering view of young mothers that disrupts predominantly negative discourses on young motherhood and can help real mothers resist patriarchal motherhood. Byrd notes that a large majority of research and media coverage on young mothers focuses overwhelmingly on the negative outcomes of young motherhood on the mother, the child, and society (491). Researchers and media coverage highlight the health hazards of teenage pregnancy and childbirth, which not only pathologizes young motherhood as a health issue, but as a social and moral problem (Byrd 492). Byrd observes that young mothers are seen as both “at risk” and “a risk” to society, which justifies their regulation and surveillance by the state and by the public. In the novel, whenever Lucy enters into the public space she is monitored and …show more content…
Rather than blaming teen mothers for their individual choices, Byrd advocates for addressing the systemic inequities that can lead to young motherhood (500). She argues that there is a need to disrupt negative discourses in our culture about young mothers, and to acknowledge that in fact, many young women are mothering successfully (502). Summer of My Amazing Luck disrupts these discourses and instead presents empowering images of young