In the short story Miracle by Judy Budnitz explores the themes of motherhood and postpartum depression. In the story Budnitz uses common horror tropes in order to magnify the experiences of a new mother suffering from postpartum depression. She uses both external characters and Julia's own point of view in order to give the reader a full picture of how Julia experiences postpartum depression and psychosis. By doing this Budnitz is able to more accurately convey to the reader the reality of motherhood with postpartum depression.
The theme of postpartum depression is spread all throughout Miracle, and one way Budnitz shows this is by having characters reinforce the feelings mother with postpartum depression often have. One example from the story is when Jonas blames Julia for Gabe's
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One way she does this is by alienating Jonas from Julia. Mothers with postpartum depression often feel isolated from their loved ones. Julia feels untethered from all of her friends and family in the wake of her birth. Julia's own sense of unreality, which is felt by the reader, is also a common symptom of depression. Those with serious depression can feel like time and space are being twisted in strange ways. Perhaps the most prolific symbols of postpartum depression in the story is when Julia starts to feel like Gabe is disproportionally heavy, and getting heavier. This is a metaphor for the intense burden Julia feels. Gabe is this heavy weight that she must bear, he physically weighs her down. The weight is a symbol for her depression and the pain that she is going through. Julia feels like she has to hide this from Jonas. It has to be her secret. Many mothers feel that they have to suffer in silence about their depression because it is something to be ashamed of. Finally Julia's ability to unintentionally hurt her child is a symptom often associated with extreme cases of postpartum