Celia has the opportunity to torpedo the mayor’s career but she chooses not to. Why do you suppose she refrained? What do you think the consequences might have been if she’d proceeded? What do you think you might have done in her place?
I think Celia was incredibly naive thinking her baby’s father would return, and that she saved his father’s career so as not to hurt him. On top of that, they knew her secret as well, so she - and Pearl - would no longer be able to pass as white.
In her place I think I would have too angry to have refrained and would have broadcast my baby’s parentage, and damn the consequences.
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I think she would have “lost.” She was below their station in the hierarchy of social classes.
I think it was a combination of two things. (1) It showed a lot about her character in taking the high road, especially after what he and that family did to her. (2) I agree about her social standing impacting her decision. Even with proof, it would have been a challenge coming from a woman and of a lower socio-economic background.
She was in a no-win position–there’s no way anyone would have believed her.
Celia was a very intelligent woman who understood the ramifications of such an undertaking. She was not willing to do anything that would harm her daughter’s ability to make it in the world they lived in.
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I think she refrained because the consequences were too great. She would have been sent away and discredited. She also did not want to hurt Pearl’s chances of being acknowledged by the Bettencourt family in the future.
I think she realized that she could not buck the system. Shealso was naive.
There was no way Celia would win a fight against the mayor. Better not to engage.
I wonder if Celia was also worried that the mayor might take his anger out on
the women she lived with too? They had become her “family” and friends.
The Bettencourts would have savaged her, denied her claims, and perhaps would have had her killed. They would not have accepted a half Chinese child into the family.
All of the above rings true for me, too.
I think Celia was a romantic. She still believed Stephen would return to her so she didn’t want to destroy his family
Celia was a complicated mixture of naivete and insight. She naively believed Stephen loved her and would marry her, and they would find a way to make their marriage work in a society that was structured to reject their union. Her threats to the mayor were spontaneous and unplanned, the result of outrage, frustration, and anger.
But she wisely knew that voicing her truth had the potential to ruin Stephen’s future, along with his father’s. Even though her claims would likely be dismissed, the gossip and speculation would be detrimental to them and, therefore, Pearl. No matter her faults, Celia loved her daughter unconditionally and everything she did was born out of her devotion to her child.
Obviously, things would be very different today for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is scientific. DNA. It would be very easy to initiate a custody/support proceeding, during the course of which DNA testing would be ordered by the court, establishing parentage & ending speculation. From there, all rights and responsibilities would be assigned. The kind of societal pressure that existed in Celia’s world would not come into play, although prejudice and bigotry have certainly reared their very ugly heads in America in recent years. Sadly, Celia’s future and her daughter’s would be dependent to a great extent upon what part of the U.S. they found themselves in.