Tess's baby

In the second phase Tess finds herself a mother to a nameless baby, something that she struggles with mightily, as is reflected in her short relationship with it. She struggles between two very strong polar emotions; a distain for the baby and what it represents, and a need to care for and protect it from possible eternal suffering. She sees the baby as a reminder of the painful loss of her innocence; a reminder that is displayed for the rest of society to observe. She handles the baby with “indifference that was almost dislike” and views it as an “intrusive creature,” yet when the baby must be saved from damnation she does everything in her power to help it. At one point she even cries, “O merciful God…heap as much anger as you want upon me, and welcome; but pity the child.” Although she may have never grown to love, or even become fond of the child, she does not want anyone else to suffer for her “sins”, as she shows time and time again throughout the novel.