Creation and Ownership

One of the topics Piercy deals with is the connection between creation and ownership: women have the power to "create" children, but as Malkah points out, they have to let those children go; men, on the other hand, create machines, which they believe they have full control over no matter how long the machine exists or how much like a man he becomes.

However, despite the statement that mothers must relinquish control of their children when the children grow up, Shira's relationship with Josh and Ari seems to say that while children are still young, mothers have complete ownership. Shira's motives for the majority of the book revolve around her getting Ari back. It doesn't matter to Shira what Josh wants, or if Ari gets to spend any time with him, or even if Josh is killed: Ari belongs to Shira, and she MUST have him in her control. Nothing in Piercy's narrative condemns this attitude: when Josh is killed, Shira expresses some regret, but never does she stop to question if maybe Ari would be better off in someone else's control.

There is also a contrast between mothers' and fathers' rights visible in the relationship between Shira and Malkah and that of Gadi and Avram. In their adult lives, neither Shira nor Gadi want to come home - yet here the similiarities end. Malkah wants Shira back, but Avram is apprehensive of Gadi's return. Malkah and Shira have a positive relationship, while Avram and Gadi are constantly sparring. Finally, Shira chooses to stay in Tikva, while Gadi runs back to his former life as soon as the chance is offered.

Yet - Malkah isn't really Shira's mother, but her grandmother. Shira's mother Riva gave up the control that comes with ownership, choosing to leave her daughter in the control of her own mother, who she had resisted throughout her childhood (Malkah remembers Riva as a little girl, standing in the courtyard screaming "NO!" at the top of her lungs). What is Piercy saying here about the relationship between creation and ownership? As a mother, Riva created yet relinquished ownership to another.

Compared to humans, the relationships of Yod and Joseph to their creators are deceptively simple. They were created for a purpose, and follow that purpose at their creators' direction. Yet both learn and grow, and soon come to resent their creators, defying their will and intentions.

The only commonality I can see between all of the creators in He, She and It is their sense of responsibility for their creations, though fulfillment of that obligation ranges from Riva's leaving her daughter with her mother for safety, to Judah's and Avram's decisions to destroy their creations for the good of society. Anyone else have any other thoughts on what (if anything) Piercy is getting at?