Motherhood and Gendered Power: A Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis of Colleen Hoover’s Reminders of Him

Abstract

This study investigates how motherhood and gendered power are represented in Reminders of Him by Colleen Hoover. Using Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis (FCDA) as its analytical framework, the research explores how language and narrative structure reflect and reinforce gender ideologies within the novel. Guided by Davis and Greenstein’s (2009) gender ideology typology and Pratto and Walker’s (2004) four bases of power, the study focuses on the experiences of Kenna Rowan, a formerly incarcerated mother whose maternal identity is contested by institutional exclusion and moral judgment. The findings reveal that only one dominant ideological construct is discursively emphasized: the belief that a mother’s most important task is caring for her children. This ideology is represented through five thematic indicators: maternal aspiration and identity, emotional and physical sacrifice, struggle for maternal access and rights, recognition of caregiving as moral obligation, and substitute or deferred care. Meanwhile, gendered power is exercised through legal restrictions, economic barriers, social obligations, and dominant cultural narratives that evaluate women’s moral worth based on maternal performance. These results demonstrate that motherhood in the novel is not biologically guaranteed but socially constructed, emotionally regulated, and ideologically policed. The study affirms the role of fiction as a discursive medium that both reproduces and critiques patriarchal norms. It contributes to feminist literary and discourse studies by offering a model for examining how popular narratives construct maternal identity and power. Further research is recommended to explore intersectional representations of motherhood in diverse cultural and media contexts.