MOTHERHOOD AS IDENTITY AND RESISTANCE IN THE POEM VIETNAM BY WISŁAWA SZYMBORSKA

Abstract

This article analyzes the poem “Vietnam,” by the Polish poet Wisława Szymborska, as a representation of identity erasure in a context of war. In the interrogation that structures the poem, an anonymous woman, a refugee deprived of ties, responds with negations or evasions to almost every question, until, when asked about her children, she asserts with conviction that those children were indeed hers. This contrast highlights motherhood as the only possible affirmation of self, establishing a gesture of resistance amid the erasure imposed by the violence of war. The reading engages with Spivak (2010), in addressing the limits of the subaltern voice, and with Arendt (1973), Agamben (2002), and Butler (2015), who reflect, respectively, on exile, the deprivation of rights in contexts of violence, and precarity. To these perspectives are added the contributions of feminist historiography, such as Scott (1992), who proposes “woman” as a historical and political category, and Badinter (1985), who challenges the naturalization of maternal instinct. By articulating these approaches, it becomes evident that, in “Vietnam,” the recognition of motherhood transcends the private sphere and takes shape as an identity boundary and a gesture of resistance in the face of abandonment, displacement, and symbolic erasure.