Up to 85% of new mothers experience “baby blues” or postpartum depression after giving birth to their children. For the mothers unfortunate enough to experience postpartum depression, there is also the possibility of developing Perinatal Psychosis or Postpartum Psychosis. The former is a condition in which a person can develop paranoia, delusions, behavior changes and could even attempt to harm themselves or their children.Women suffering with these changes could also find themselves feeling burdened by their children. Since the introduction of their child into the world is what brought on such negative symptoms, they feel as if it is the fault of the children that they feel the way they do. Individuals suffering with this condition have a…show more content… Rather than see them enslaved again, she murdered her daughter and attempted to do the same to the other children. Garner’s fictional counterpart does the same thing to her children when faced with the possibility of returning to slavery. Sethe and Margaret Garner’s actions towards their children were nothing if not a prolonged and untreated case of Postpartum Psychosis. As a result of their possible post traumatic stress from their inhumane treatment as slaves mixed with their paranoia and delusions from their Postpartum psychosis, they attempted to murder all of their children. The constant pressure and stress that they felt as slaves coupled with that of the stress brought on by motherhood had laid dormant until they were faced with the possibility of re-enslavement. In the case of Sethe, it is only when Schoolteacher, her former captor, shows up at her doorstep, that all of her trauma and psychosis is brought to the surface. Much like that of a traumatized person lashing out after being triggered by an event or object, Schoolteacher is Sethe’s
