The two stories, “A Secret Sorrow” by Karen Van der Zee and “A Sorrowful Woman” by Godwin are about women who are suffering from an identity crisis. The stories, therefore, focus on the source of their unhappiness. They also elaborate on how this unhappiness affects their lives. From a general perspective, both stories are based around the theme of sorrow and contextualize such feelings in the lives of these women. The two books each express this theme in different ways though.

In “A Sorrowful Woman” the concerned woman is not identified. She lives a very miserable existence to the extent that even her lines of communication with her family members are virtually dead. In “A Secret Sorrow,” though, the protagonist’s source of unhappiness is the fact that she is unable to conceive. Therefore, the cause of sorrow in the two stories appears to be complete opposites. While family surrounds the woman in the first story, the family members, particularly the son, are the source of her sorrow, and she leads a miserable life owing to their inferior relationship. In the second story, however, the cause of sorrow is the inability to raise a family.

The two women are at an age where certain things are expected of them. However, since they cannot live up to these expectations, either through no fault of their own or through circumstances, they are faced with a crisis of identity. While in a “Sorrowful Woman” the protagonist has a son and a husband, she is sick of the fact that she bore a son, and wishes to escape the life of a married woman with one boy child. In “A Secret Sorrow,” however, the main character’s all-consuming predicament is her inability to have children.

Works Cited

Godwin, Gail. A Sorrowful Woman. Massachusetts: Penguin University Press, 1971.

Van der Zee, Karen.  A Secret Sorrow. California: Harlequin Comics, 1981.

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