The role of parents has changed drastically over the years. In The Wide Wide World the role of parents is very traditional, in that the mom takes care of little Ellen and the dad provides for the family by going to work.
Susan Warner shows the huge role Mrs. Montgomery plays in Ellen’s life, from the very beginning of the story. Ellen loves her mom more than anything in the world. She trusts her so much. When Mrs. Montgomery asks how her daughter trusts her Ellen replies, “Why mamma,--in the first place, I trust every word you say—entirely—I know nothing could be truer; if you were to tell me black is white, mamma, I should think my eyes had been mistaken. Then everything you tell or advise me to do, I know it is right, perfectly.”
Captain Montgomery plays no role in his daughter’s life. She never sees him because he is always gone on business. I noticed from the start that Ellen does not even seem to care that she never sees her father, and also seems to see him as solely an authoritative figure, very different than her mother. “I’ll not go down till papa is gone,” she thought—“he’ll ask me what is the matter with my eyes.” She doesn’t worry about crying in front of her mom because she definitely cries to her mom and with her mom a lot!
Towards the end when Captain Montgomery goes to tell his wife the news of finding a ride for Ellen to Aunt Fortune’s house he shows no sympathy towards Mrs. Montgomery. Mrs. Montgomery, of course wants to wake Ellen immediately, but Mr. Montgomery demands that she stay asleep until the last moment possible. Mrs. Montgomery obeys her husband’s requests despite her strong opposition.
In this story it is clear that the male is the head of the household. The role of the mom is probably a little skewed in this particular story since Mrs. Montgomery is so ill, but we can still see that she is in charge of taking care of Ellen, and Captain Montgomery works and makes all decisions for the family.
I personally don't like how distant and uninvolved Mr. Montgomery is in Ellen's life. He seems to make all the important decisions for her, but yet really has no ties to her except for his blood. He really only seems to take responsibility for her when he absolutely has to provide for her.
ReplyDeleteHi Elizabeth,
ReplyDeleteGreat job on the post. Although you make some very strong points about Ellen's parental figures in her life, I somewhat disagree with you when you stated that the role of parents has changed a lot since this story was published. I personally relate to Ellen, in the fact that her father is always gone, resulting in her confiding in her mother more so than Mr. Montgomery. I grew up not having an authoritative father figure, mine was always traveling and working.
Overall, good work on the blog & supporting your statements with the text!
I like how you said that Mr. Montegomery was the solely an authoritative figure, Ellen obeys what he says not out of love but of fear, I believe. She doesn't want to see what happens if she doesn't do something he says. However, with the mom, she loves her more than anything in the world, as you mentioned. Because of this I believe that Ellen's obedience to her mother is an expression of love because she wants to make her mother happy and doesn't want to see her mom upset.
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