Single Motherhood in Postwar Soviet Russia: Cultural Code and its Literary Implication

Figures & data

Table 1. Cultural code of single motherhood in the post-war USSR.

	VP1	VP2	IG	MG	VP3	GSa	GSb	MK	NB1	NB2	IV	VT	VS
I	Divorce + affair with married man	City boy vs. Country girl/orphan	Infidelity	Widowhood	Widowhood	Divorce	Unknown reason	City boy vs. Country girl/fatherless	Escape from an abusive stepmother	Divorce	Partner’s disappearance	Foreigner + Partner’s disappearance/orphan	Husband’s demise
II			Second thoughts						Second thoughts
III		Virginity						Adolescent pregnancy	Adolescent pregnancy			Adolescent pregnancy
IV	Affair with a married man		Rejection to stay with a biological father			Rejection of men’s attention		Rejection of men’s attention	Rejection of men’s attention	Rejection of men’s attention		Affair with a man	Affair with a married man
V					Marriage			Marriage	Marriage		Marriage
VI	Neglectful of the first child/loving a newborn	Second thoughts on adoption	Mutual love with a daughter	Violent/clothes as a gift/neglectful	Mutual love with a son	Mutual love with a son	Cruel	Love with a son				Second thoughts: take a son from a boarding school	Mutual love with a daughter/gift
VII	Bank clerk	Waitress	Library warden	Factory worker: 2–3 shifts in a row	Tram-driver	Teacher	Teacher + principal/unprofessional	Industrious/enrolment to vocational school	Factory worker	Scientist	Librarian	Unspecified
VIII		Extra-job	Purchase of food/cooking/laundry	Cooking/laundry				Taking care of three half-brothers/housekeeping			Disorganized
IX			Smoking significant others: daughter, close friend				Drinks a bottle of vodka in one go		Smoking significant other	Unopened bottle of wine			Smoking
X	Beautiful clothes		Heartache	Negligent	Heartache	Getting fat	Unpretty, careless about clothes/sickness + death	Careless about appearance	Beautiful/getting sick three times	Attractive	Good looking, skinny, kind, careless about clothes	Beautiful/complicated recovery
XI	Disorganized/lack of reading/dreams about happier life	Lie about children’s father	Strong	Tearful			Unpleasant + vindictive	Strong + proud	Self-sufficient	Interesting, vivacious			Unhappy