Society and Class Quotes in We Need to Talk About Kevin

As a non-corporeal Internet entity, Shmoop has never been pregnant, but it does seem to us like people try to take ownership of pregnant women, whether they're related to them or not. They want to share baby stories, they want to know when the baby is due, they want to touch a stranger's belly, as if that weren't creepy and invasive. Being pregnant seems to open a social gate. Say hello to your new child; say goodbye to privacy. Why is that?

People also expect mothers to be happy and glowing and doting and overflowing with love toward their child 24/7; anything less is looked upon with scorn. Eva doesn't just feel less, she feels nothing, so she feels great shame from societal pressures of motherhood.

Because of the great shame we mention in Quote #2, Eva feels she can't even talk about how she feels. Instead of We Need to Talk About Kevin, this book could also be titled We Need to Talk about Middle-Class American Society's Expectations for Mothers.