 Several critics have focused on the theme of motherhood . In " Mothers and Daughters / Aging and Dying " , Claire Sprague wrote that Lessing often dwells on the theme of mothers passing their behaviours onto their daughters , and how the cycle of daughters fighting their mothers permeates each generation . The British novelist Jane Rogers said that The Good Terrorist " is as unsparing and incisive about motherhood as it is about the extreme left " . She stated that motherhood here " is terrible " : Alice 's mother is reduced to despair continually yielding to her selfish daughter 's demands ; Alice mothers Jasper , and has a similar despairing relationship with him . Rogers added that motherhood is depicted here as a compulsion to protect the weak , despite their propensity to retaliate and hurt you . 
