63 pages • 2 hours read
Jessamine ChanThe School for Good Mothers
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2022A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 1-3Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 1 Summary
The police call Frida, explaining they have her toddler daughter, Harriet, whom she splits custody with her ex-husband, Gust. After long-term struggles with insomnia, depression, and heartbreak, Frida left Harriet home alone for what was supposed to be 10 minutes while she got coffee. However, she stopped by her work to get a file, then lost track of time answering emails. Harriet was alone for two hours, and Frida’s neighbor called the police after hearing crying.
The officers interview Frida, who writes a newspaper about professors’ research and works from home on days she has Harriet. Harriet will now go home with Gust and his new girlfriend Susanna, and Frida might lose custody. Harriet and Frida embrace, and Harriet begins to fall asleep on her mother’s shoulder before being pulled away.
Frida moved to Philadelphia with Gust; they previously lived in Brooklyn but wanted a better place to raise children. However, shortly after they moved, they got divorced. A social worker, Ms. Torres, interviews Frida about her mental health history and explains that over the next 60 days, Frida will have three hour-long, supervised visits with Harriet, during which Child Protective Services (CPS) will collect data.
Frida goes home and obsessively cleans her house. She asks her boss for an extension, then meets with her divorce lawyer, Renee, with whom she is close. Renee tells Frida that CPS has been getting “more aggressive,” and instructs Frida to act cooperative and level-headed. Frida might have to complete a new experimental program. Men from CPS show up to rifle through Frida’s belongings and install cameras all over her house so they can “analyze her feelings” (20). Nobody will explain the new program, but Frida read online that it’s supposed to eliminate bias and human error.
Chapter 2 Summary
Frida doesn’t want to go home, so she stays late at work. However, Renee warns her that she has to go home, because it would look questionable not to. Renee also tells Frida to assume CPS is watching and listening everywhere, not just at home. Frida goes home and frets that CPS will soon learn she doesn’t have many friends or visitors after moving to Philadelphia and getting divorced. She also has insomnia, depression, anxiety, and body image issues, which she eases with alcohol, sleeping pills, tearing her cuticles off, and ritualistic, excessive exercise. She’s worried these things will make her look like a bad mother.
Frida recalls how she discovered Gust’s affair by finding photos of Susanna and him engaging sexually on his phone. At first, he apologized and they tried to salvage their marriage, but he didn’t stop seeing Susanna, claiming he loved her. Frida feels like if they could have made it past the unglamorous months of having a newborn and recovering from childbirth, she could have “won” Gust back. She also believes she shouldn’t have stopped taking antidepressants during pregnancy. Gust convinced Frida that a no-fault divorce would be best for Harriet. Susanna soon got involved in co-parenting, suggesting strategies that were allegedly healthy but would impede Frida’s ability to work, pay bills, or spend time with her child. Susanna receives allowance from her wealthy parents, so she doesn’t have the same priorities.
Frida leaves her phone at home and goes to visit Gust’s best friend and Harriet’s godfather, Will, who is single and has always been flirtatious with Frida; he usually dates sad women. Frida has a master’s degree in literature, and Will is 38, pursuing a PhD in cultural anthropology. They eat and drink wine, then Will comforts her about Harriet. She tries to kiss him, but he says it’s a bad idea because of Gust. Frida recalls how she used to have anonymous sex but not anymore. She and Will decide not to have sex, but Will kisses her on the cheek and suggests they could do so another time. Frida goes home to let the cameras observe her.
Chapter 3 Summary
The court sends Frida to a psychologist to be evaluated, one who doesn’t appear to be a parent. He asks if English is her first language (which it is) and about her family history. Her parents immigrated separately from China to the United States for graduate school, where they met, got married, and both became Economics professors. Her parents sent money for the rest of the family to immigrate, too. Frida is an only child. She hasn’t told her parents about losing Harriet and has been ignoring their calls. The psychologist asks if there were any “cultural issues” in her marriage, since she is Chinese and Gust is white. Frida doesn’t think so.
Frida says the “incident” with Harriet isn’t representative of her parenting. The psychologist criticizes her for letting Harriet watch television and play alone while she worked. Frida discloses her diagnosis of depression and history of taking Zoloft. The psychologist asks about her parents, and she explains that Chinese culture is different, with parents being more reserved and less openly affectionate; furthermore, her own parents both had demanding jobs and responsibilities to extended family. She asks the psychologist not to judge her parents by “American standards” or blame them for her shortcomings, because she feels they were and are good parents. He asks about her marriage, which she says was good, until Gust’s affair, after which she would have still reconciled with him if he’d been willing to stay. Frida complains about Susanna, how soon Gust moved in with her, and how involved she became in co-parenting, lamenting that Harriet now spends more time with Susanna.
Frida returns to Will’s apartment the night before the first of her three hour-long, supervised visits with Harriet. Frida finally told her parents about Harriet, and they said she should have called a babysitter. Frida and Will then have sex. Frida recalls how she had an epidural despite Gust’s wishes, then had a C-section, and sex was painful for a long time afterward.
Frida’s visit with Harriet is at Gust and Susanna’s apartment, where Harriet is not used to seeing Frida. The social worker, Ms. Torres, is late, cutting the visit short. Harriet wants to cuddle with Frida, but Ms. Torres demands they play with toys for data. She films mother and daughter and stays within two feet of Harriet, irking her into a tantrum. Harriet screams for Ms. Torres to go away, then bites her. Ms. Torres snaps at Frida to control her child. Gust says Harriet isn’t normally a biter. Now, Harriet only wants her father, not her mother, and won’t play for Ms. Torres. Frida hopes the next visit will go better.
Chapters 1-3 Analysis
This section establishes the plight of The School for Good Mother’s protagonist, Frida, as expressed through her limited third-person perspective. Limited third-person perspective is common in contemporary fiction, and highlights the subjectivity of experience compared to an omniscient point of view where multiple perspectives are examined. First-person perspective would present the same opportunity to explore subjectivity, but third-person provides a degree of distance that allows the narrator to describe characters in ways they would not always choose to describe themselves. Through the narration, the reader has fairly direct access to Frida’s internal thoughts and feelings throughout the novel, although she tries to conceal these thoughts and feelings out of necessity. In this section, her emotions are already being monitored by Child Protective Services (CPS) cameras, resulting in Frida policing her own behavior and acting differently than she normally would (such as minimizing crying).
The School for Good Mothers is a dystopian, science-fiction novel, but in these beginning chapters, science-fiction elements have not yet been introduced. However, the novel still shows science and technology being used in innovative, ultimately inappropriate ways in these early chapters, though the technologies represented here are nothing that doesn’t already exist in reality. At first, The School for Good Mothers seems to be more of a dystopian novel exploring how government agencies have too much reach. However, the introduction of scientific elements and technology as part of CPS’s process primes the reader for more heavy science-fiction elements that come later. Already present at the start is the idea that it’s dangerous to place undying faith in technology, as if using it eliminates all possibility for bias or error.
This section introduces the novel’s thematic concerns, the most prominent theme being The Unrealistic Expectations Imposed on Mothers. As the daughter of Chinese immigrants, Frida is in a position to recognize how the expectations placed on American mothers are sexist, as well as racist and xenophobic. She notes that her therapists blame her parents for her problems, but she knows Chinese culture is simply different from American culture (in regard to parenting), with people being more reserved and focused on work, and less outwardly emotional. Frida is more generous toward her parents, appreciating their continued support and dedication to family throughout her life. Thus, she’s resistant when therapists blame her parents or Chinese culture for her supposed issues as a person or mother. Additionally, unrealistic expectations are explored through the state’s excessive surveillance of Frida, under which any action she commits can be used against her as a “crime,” even crying too much after having her daughter seized, or her house being messy.
This section also introduces the theme of The Ethics of Government Interference in Parenting. Dystopian novels often present warnings about the future by examining present-day society, then imagining what would happen if a certain technology, institution, political idea, or other trend were taken to its potential logical conclusion. In these opening chapters, the novel introduces issues that likely already exist within CPS before adding speculative elements. For example, Frida laments that it’s not a requirement for CPS employees or family court judges to be parents or understand “unconditional love.” This calls into question their making decisions about whether or not others are suitable parents. Social worker Ms. Torres and Frida’s psychologist both do not appear to be parents, and both struggle to understand the realities of what parenting entails and what children need. Ms. Torres provokes Harriet with her invasive presence and demands, then blames Frida for being unable to “control” her child under artificial circumstances.
The novel takes a slightly speculative turn when CPS installs cameras in every room of Frida’s house except the bathroom, seemingly with the intention of reviewing the footage and tracking her display of emotions. Although this level of technology exists in real life, this level of surveillance is not a normal response to a minor incident like what happened with Frida and Harriet. The novel’s speculative nature is also hinted at when Renee explains that CPS is becoming more aggressive and working on secret programs that she doesn’t know the details of—foreshadowing the titular school.
