In Nnedi Okorafor’s short story “Mother of Invention,” Anwuli’s neighbors, family, and friends did not act in a caring way, recognizing their mutual interdependence and directed towards their mutual flourishing and instead the way they acted towards her followed by concerns of justice instead. Not even her family member who has a stronger and closer relationship with Anwuli showed any time of care renourishing ways towards her. The ethics of care theory considers the moral or most ethical thing to do, is to care for and nourish those closest to us, and what is left over, trickles down to our communities and those around us.
If her neighbors, community, family and friends had thought about things through an ethics of care rather than an ethics of justice, their behaviors towards Anwuli would have been very different. The short story even begins with one of her neighbors just ignoring the fact that a woman who is very close to being due, does not even offer to help her carry the materials and just lets her struggle. Even if her neighbor did not have a close relationship with her, based on the ethics of care, the caring and nourishing thing to have done if it was possible and wouldn’t hurt him or those he loved, would have been to help her carry the material in. Her neighbors and community should have acted in a more caring and sympathetic way. Since it did not seem like she was close with her neighbors or community it is reasonable to understand why they were not as helpful but their behavior towards her was morally wrong. According to ethics of care, they should have been caring and sympathetic enough to not exclude her and talk about her whenever she went out. Her friends and especially family had a greater duty to be caring and nourishing towards her, especially during this time and yet they chose not to because what she had done was wrong and gave her a bad reputation. Her family should have been more supportive towards her even if it was in an emotional and verbal way rather than everyone distancing themselves from her and in a way putting the blame on her for the situation, she was in. Family and those we have a closer relationship with, according to the ethics of care, have a higher obligation to protect and care for those we have closer relationships with, which her family and friends did not seem to do. While we should treat everyone in a caring and protective way, those people who we have an interdependent relationship with are prioritized higher than those we do not. When looking at her neighbors and community’s behavior towards her, while their obligation to how they treated her was not as prioritized, they still should have acted in a way where both sides were maturating and flourishing. As in the pregnant woman gets sympathy and little help and the neighbors do the right thing.
Anwuli’s fiancé’s behavior and treatment towards her were unethical based on the ethics of care. As his fiancé, he did not give her the proper respect by still being married. As the mother of his unborn child, he should have acted more supportive and caring. Even without that close relationship, completely abandoning someone after they get pregnant does not embody mutual flourishing since there will be guilt on one end and suffering and abandonment on the other. In this situation I can see why he chose to abandon their relationship, being that he probably had a stronger interdependence relationship with his wives and children and felt a greater obligation to stay with them but he should have still been supportive toward Anwuli and her pregnancy.