How do you think Placidia felt about her baby, particularly in light of her rape?

How do you think Placidia felt about her baby, particularly in light of her rape?

I think she felt as if it were an alien being in her body. This exact same set of circumstances occurred for my cousin and she felt as if she had been invaded and conquered by the enemy. Placidia was weak from hunger and work and had no time to become sentimental about the baby and actually had no feelings for the child at all.

I actually do not agree with some of the other comments. I really believe that Placidia was a very kind and caring person. Even though her pregnancy was a result of a rape, I believe she truly cared for the baby growing inside of her

I cannot imagine a more horrific thing. This living thing remind you everyday of the awful thing that happened to you, yet it is a growing thing that is one-half you after all and how can you not love it? My heart goes out to Placidia and all women in this tragic situation. And the baby is certainly a person who deserves love. But the novel really doesn't give us much information about how Placidia felt about the baby, so we can only speculate.

I think she realized that she just had to deal with this horrific reminder of her rape. I don't think she felt any love for the child she was carrying and the conception that occurred so violently.

I agree with dianeh, I don't think Placidia felt badly towards her baby for the sins of its sire. As awful as it was how the baby was conceived, Placidia was an obviously generous and fair person and I think she cared greatly for her baby. In one of her entries she mentions that when she regained consciousness and was aware that she hadn't fed the baby in hours, she became very distressed until "someone" told her that the baby had drowned (which wasn't technically a lie, interesting) and that they would bury the baby when she felt better.

Now that I'm thinking about it a little, was the baby's sex or a name ever mentioned? Was this Placidia's way of emotionally detaching herself from the baby by not naming it in her journal or was it just too painful to bare?

We aren't given much information regarding her feelings toward the baby. I certainly don't view her overall character as cold and uncaring. However, she had to have very mixed feelings about this child conceived through rape. I felt she was a strong and stoic person who would strive to endure whatever was handed out in her life.

I felt Dia was somewhat disassociated from the baby. She had her hands full with the farm and Hockaday's son and seemed to stay focused on that.

I agree with those who believe she felt love, notwithstanding that she also felt other emotions as well. In her inquest testimony, referring to his burial, wrapped in a piece of her knitting, she says "I could not bear for him to go into the next life unaccompanied by any loving mementoes (sic) of loving attachment in this one." (She clearly identifies the baby as a male). Dia was not someone who would lie for any other reason than to protect someone she loved, so I believe she was being honest here. It's clear from all that she said in her testimony (pages 75-79) that she had been nursing her son, not rejecting him, and that she didn't know what happened to him after she fell and lost consciousness, but she made every effort in her weakened state to see that he had a loving burial. She did not blame the child for the horror of his conception -- that seems totally in keeping with a woman who so readily opened her heart to her stepson, even to the point of sending away Suki, even though Dia needed help, because Suki wasn't kind to Charlie.

It seems to me that Placidia would have loved and cared for her child, realizing that it wasn't the child's fault for being born. I mostly feel this way after seeing how she forgave the Major after he took her to court. To forgive and have a happy marriage after that kind of event makes me believe in Placidia's kind heart.

I think she felt ambivalent towards the baby. She was devastated by the way it was conceived but I think she would have been a good or at least adequate mother.