Cedar’s journey exposes her to many different versions of motherhood as she comes to terms with her own maternity.

Sera is Cedar’s adoptive mother, providing the cornerstone of Cedar’s experience of motherhood. While the women are not biologically related, Cedar learns from Sera that motherhood is as much about actions as it is about blood. Even after Cedar learns the identity of her biological mother, she never stops viewing Sera as her “mom” (149). At the same time, Cedar meets Mary Potts, her biological mother, whom Cedar comes to view as an older sister. Mary’s relationship with her daughter Little Mary (Cedar’s half-sister) as well as her brief relationship with Cedar provide new perspectives on motherhood, which Cedar incorporates into her own definition. The theme of motherhood is not expressed in a single person. Rather, Cedar comes to learn that motherhood is multi-faceted and complicated, and that it transcends biological inheritance—a stance which flies in the face of the utilitarian, biologistic philosophy of the new government.

Indeed, the Church of the New Constitution demonstrates an understanding of motherhood that is based purely on a woman’s ability to reproduce, essentially rendering her a means of production.