Native Births: The Isolation and Independence of New Mothers in Waterlily Anonymous College

Ella Cara Deloria’s novel Waterlily carefully considers the role of women, not only as respectful instructors of etiquette, dedicated sisters, and hospitable homemakers, but also as the primal maternal beings responsible for birthing the tribe’s newest generation. One of the supreme duties of these women is to create progeny that will raised to respect tradition, value kinship etiquette, and continue tribal legacies. While Waterlily does detail the circumstances in which the children are to be raised, careful emphasis is placed on the mother’s duty to the actual birth itself. This text in particular stresses the means by which a woman is to go about giving birth as a member of a tribe, whether she is participating in a tribal migration at the end of her term or waiting safely inside the shelter of an established campsite. The first portion of Waterlily invites the reader to witness Blue Bird give birth on two different occasions. These episodes differ in terms of location and the terms by which tribal society dictates how the new mother is to behave. The text, therefore, instills a sort of value in the social power of the physical act, making an effort to detail how exactly it concerns the mother’s reputation in tribal society....