The novel Secret Daughter, written by Shilpi Somaya Gowda, is a story about family relationships and the way in which each member’s choice impacts how the family lives. The novel is set in two locations, India and America, and focuses on the Thakkar family and the Merchant family over the years of 1984 to 2009. The three protagonists are Kavita Thakkar, Somer Merchant, and Asha Merchant. These three women make decisions that influence the family member’s actions and behaviour over time. Within each relationship, both families have challenges they must overcome; for example, identity confusion, motherhood, and feminism. Even though the Thakkar family and the Merchant 's family face many conflicts within the novel, the main conflict centers on
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Especially if the wife in the Merchant family is incapable of having babies due to reproductive system problems. In the Merchant’s household, the wife, Somer, has early menopause and she is unqualified to conceive children. Additionally, Somer experiences powerful emotions such as depression, jealousy, and disappointment around pregnancy, childbirth, and mothering. However, her husband Kris suggests to adopt a child from India considering there are no other alternatives but this one. Kris, advocates the he does not want to see her upset anymore due to the failed attempts for the past couple of years: “Look, there are all kinds of families,” he says. “Blood doesn 't make you family. “So you can either keep killing yourself to get pregnant with a very low probability of success, or we can either start the adoption process, and this time next year, you could be holding a baby in your arms.”(Gowda, pg ___) As a result, Somer takes Kris’s conclusion into account, to do the adoption process, but she is uncertain about how she will feel raising a child that is not her own, and wonders if she can be really called a mother. Kavita’s child Usha is now renamed as Asha and is adopted by the Merchant family to live a better life. Somer seeks help from her mom for guidance and comfort to resolve the negativism of not being able to nurture her own offspring as she hope she
Especially if the wife in the Merchant family is incapable of having babies due to reproductive system problems. In the Merchant’s household, the wife, Somer, has early menopause and she is unqualified to conceive children. Additionally, Somer experiences powerful emotions such as depression, jealousy, and disappointment around pregnancy, childbirth, and mothering. However, her husband Kris suggests to adopt a child from India considering there are no other alternatives but this one. Kris, advocates the he does not want to see her upset anymore due to the failed attempts for the past couple of years: “Look, there are all kinds of families,” he says. “Blood doesn 't make you family. “So you can either keep killing yourself to get pregnant with a very low probability of success, or we can either start the adoption process, and this time next year, you could be holding a baby in your arms.”(Gowda, pg ___) As a result, Somer takes Kris’s conclusion into account, to do the adoption process, but she is uncertain about how she will feel raising a child that is not her own, and wonders if she can be really called a mother. Kavita’s child Usha is now renamed as Asha and is adopted by the Merchant family to live a better life. Somer seeks help from her mom for guidance and comfort to resolve the negativism of not being able to nurture her own offspring as she hope she