"Motherhood is the strangest thing, it can be like being one's own Trojan horse"

Motherhood occupies a paradoxical space, full of both power and vulnerability. Rebecca West’s words highlight the peculiar duality that comes with being a mother. To describe motherhood as “the strangest thing” suggests an experience beyond the rational or usual, hinting at its mysterious, transformative nature. Comparing motherhood to being one's own Trojan horse deepens this enigma and points toward an internal conflict. The Trojan horse, in classical mythology, was a vehicle of hidden invasion: what seemed like a gift from the Greeks to the Trojans was in fact a secret delivery mechanism for their own undoing.

Translating this metaphor to motherhood, the statement evokes the idea that becoming a mother transforms one from within in unexpected ways, sometimes concealing what is most deeply personal. A mother’s body becomes a vessel, literally carrying another life, and her identity is subtly infiltrated and altered by the needs, desires, and existence of her child. In offering unguarded love and self, a mother may find her former self reshaped, motives complexified, and independence challenged. The "strangest thing" is precisely how this change does not come from without, like an enemy at the gates, but from within, through choices of love, sacrifice, and nurturing.

Being “one's own Trojan horse” also expresses the tension mothers may feel when the act of giving birth and nurturing instigates an internal surrender. While motherhood is often celebrated as an ultimate fulfillment, it can also introduce profound self-doubt, loss of autonomy, or even a sense of alienation from one’s earlier self. The “enemy” is not the child, but the way identity and boundaries are irrevocably altered. Ultimately, this metaphor allows for a meditation on the emotional invasions and renovations that define the maternal experience: a deep, self-engendered change that is both a triumph and a challenge, subverting the boundaries between self and other.