Katie Gouch
Personal Response to Inventory/ The Tokens
The history of the “Great Reception” makes me question why the mothers took the time to put tokens with their children. The mothers were knowledgeably giving their children up to a life where two thirds of them statistically would die and the other third would become civil servants, either with the army or as domestics. I understand that these women probably did not have the resources to raise an infant; however I do not understand how a woman could live with herself after she put her child in a lottery in order to give it away, or just cruelly wrapped the baby in a blanket and left it at the hospital steps. If the mother is so decisive in throwing the child away, then would she really want the child to be able to look at a token and be reminded of the mother that abandoned him? Specifically the token that said “He who neglects me loses me”, is particularly heart breaking. It seems to me that the mother is acknowledging the fact that she is neglecting her child and has no remorse about it. But that poses the question, why would the mothers take the time to make an opposite token that would match the infant’s if ever reunited? The mothers are treating their children like leftovers in the fridge; where you will probably end up just throwing it away but you better save it just in case you change your mind.
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