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Summary
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Son, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Pain and Maternal Love
Travel, Fitting In, and Values
Emotion, Individuality, and the Human Experience
Family and Coming of Age
Community and Sacrifice
Summary
Analysis
The “young girl” (later revealed to be Claire) cringes as a blindfold is buckled over her eyes, but she doesn’t argue. This, she knows, is just part of the procedure, as one of the other “Vessels” explained to her a month ago. Even though the Vessels aren’t supposed to talk about such things, she asked the other girl, who had “produced” twice before, what it was like and why they have to wear blindfolds. The girl explained that they don’t want the Vessels to see the “Product” after it comes out of them, and she shared that while their classes insist they’ll just experience “discomfort,” it hurts. Just then, the matron’s voice over the loudspeaker told the Vessels to obey the rules forbidding this subject of conversation.
Despite the vague, sterile language, it’s relatively clear here that “young girls” are having babies (the “Product”). The various language choices highlight how detached and impersonal this society is: the girls who bear children are “Vessels” (their entire job is growing babies in their bodies, not being people in their own right), and rather than being people with pronouns and characters, the babies are just “Product[s].” Not wanting the girls to see their babies also points to the fractured family structures at work in this society.
Themes
At age 12, Claire was selected Birthmother. She spent the next year and a half taking special vitamins and taking easier classes in school. The night before she left her house for the Birthmothers’ Dormitory, she and her “parental unit” had a special dinner to celebrate; her brother, Peter, wasn’t there, as since beginning his own training six years ago, he was already a stranger to the family. Her parents assured Claire they weren’t embarrassed by her assignment. The next day, when Claire left for the dormitory, her parents moved to where the “Childless Adults” lived. Several weeks later, Claire was inseminated—a painless process, to her relief—and then was told to return a week later to confirm that she was a “certified Vessel.”
Claire didn’t even get to choose to have babies: she was selected for the job and seemingly had no choice. This makes it even more disturbing, especially given the implication that being a Birthmother is something people here generally see as a somewhat shameful job. The fact that Peter is a “stranger to the family” again points to how fractured and emotionless families are here. The “parental unit” raises children, but there’s no love between parents and children.
Themes
Now, nine months later, Claire is blindfolded and experiencing the “discomfort.” She tries to relax, but it hurts. It’s true pain. Claire is only 14.
In labor, Claire learns that her society has been lying to her: having a baby hurts. And saying explicitly that she’s only 14 drives home the inhumanity of the situation. The powers that be have forced her to grow and bear a baby without telling her the truth about what she’ll experience.
Themes
