one piece - here we go again

[hsiuism]

Up to ch. 629.

[Spoilers for the one fan even more behind than me]Oda, I love you, and Fishman Island is fun and all, but can we please stop it with the dead mothers? Portraying them as noble, righteous, and good doesn't really change the evidence that you apparently regard self-sacrifice and death to be part of a mother's role/identity. And do not give me lines about it "making sense in the

Comments

[beccastareyes]

I have a lovely quote from one of Lois Bujold's books that note that fairy tales all end when the girl gets married, and the only role for mothers seems to be to die young*, and how unfulfilling and creepy that is for young women.

One can at least switch it up with dead fathers, dead grandparents, etc. Granted dead parents is still a trope, but it's less obviously sexist than if it's always the mother who seems to bite it.

* "Why else do all the stories end when the Count's daughter gets married? Hasn't that ever struck you as a bit sinister? I mean, have you ever read a folk tale where the Princess's mother gets to do anything but die young? I've never been able to figure out if that's supposed to be a warning, or an instruction."
The speaker is talking about her options with her parents, her boyfriend and his mother, and how she's not ready for marriage, but she's got no intention of breaking off her relationship with her boyfriend in the near future. She just feels like she needs more time to figure out herself as an adult and

[printfogey]

Dadan (and Makino) and Kureha really do seem like the only characters in mother rules that manage to survive, yeah. While there are at least three living biological fathers (Yasopp, Dragon, Cobra) and at least one living male parental substitute (Zeff)... maybe more? (Perhaps Garp counts? Although maybe then we should count Kokoro as well?)

Although Cobra remains the only non-deadbeat biological dad around.