Throughout postcolonial literature, motherhood appears in the form of metaphors, imagery, and political discourse. Authors maternalize the natural: land, water, and farmland take on feminine characteristics in their creation of a mother land. Salman Rushdie, Sara Suleri and Graham Swift address similar issues of motherhood in and out of postcolonial society in Meatless Days, Shame, and Waterland. The authors portray mothers as caged women, as teachers, and as bearers of both shame and joy. By analyzing motherhood in their novels, the authors explain the significance of maternal influences which supply a foundation for a society's history.
