Carrying Life Through Loss: Pregnancy, Widowhood, and Maternal Vulnerability

Abstract

This paper attempts to explore the challenges of pregnancy and childbirth experienced by a widow, by analysing Alissa Torres’s graphic memoir, American Widow, published in 2008. Each woman navigates the challenges of widowhood distinctively, shaped through the dynamic interplay of physical, psychological, and socio- cultural factors. As a woman in third trimester of pregnancy, Alissa faced heightened vulnerability upon entering widowhood. As Andrea O’ Reilly argues, “the category of mother is distinct from the category of woman and that many of the problems mothers face- social, economic, political, cultural, psychological, and so forth- are specific to women’s role and identity as mothers” (42). This paper draws on feminist perspectives on motherhood to explore the diverse experiences of a pregnant widow.