Between the points of domestic departure and arrival, Susan Warner captures a tale of orphan hood and female maturation through her novel The Wide, Wide World. As this tale unfolds it chronicles the fortunes of a young woman, Ellen Montgomery, deprived of her parents and left, in large part, to find her own difficult path to adulthood. The portion of the Wide, Wide World that we have read focuses on Ellen’s emotional, intellectual, and spiritual maturation from a young girl to an adult woman. In a number of occasions this text points to the roles of parents, the difference between the roles of mothers versus fathers, and how Ellen perceives her parents as figures in her life.
The text encourages us to view the roles of parents as a structured guide to teach children how to grow up and, in this instance, how to become a lady. The parental figure within this text is of course Ellen’s ill mother, Mrs. Montgomery. Mr. Montgomery is absent for it seems all of Ellen’s childhood and offers no part in her upbringing, which leaves his wife to be the teacher. Mrs. Montgomery gives her daughter a plethora of advice including how to act appropriately. “I wish you to be always neat, and tidy, and industrious; depending upon others as little as possible; and careful to improve yourself by every means, and especially by writing to me,” states Mrs. Montgomery.
The roles of mothers versus fathers are blatantly obvious within this text. Ellen’s mother is always providing insight on how to behave, to compose herself, and how to do tasks such as sewing or writing letters. “To make her mother’s tea was Ellen’s regular business. She treated it as a very grave affair, and loved it as one of the pleasantest in the course of the day” (pg. 25). Ellen as a young child takes on tasks such as making tea for her mother and takes it with all seriousness and care possible. Ellen is not being taught to work in the fields or any other “working tasks” but is being taught to perform domestic duties. Mr. Montgomery is solely engaged in business, making money for his family, and being an authority figure of the family. “And to the pressure pf argument Captain Montgomery added the weight of authority-insisting her compliance” (pg. 24). This part of the text shows he has no emotional input on his wife and daughter being separated but only makes the rules. He provides no advice to Ellen and does not coach her on how to behave. This also hints that during this time young girls and their mothers worked closely together so that one day the child can have a family of her own and perform all of the domestic needs necessary.
Ellen is madly in love with her mother and will do anything to please her. “Ellen had plenty of faults, but amidst them all, love to her mother was the strongest feeling her heart knew. It had power enough now to move her as nothing else could have done” (pg. 25). Ellen worships her mother and wants to be identical to her now and when she is older. Mrs. Montgomery is Ellen’s hero and role model. “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, momma, I should think my eyes had been mistaken. Then everything you tell or advise me to do, I know it is right, perfectly,” states Ellen. It is hard to describe how Ellen perceives her father because he is so absent from her life that he is almost nothing to her. There is no affection or encounters shared between them so it is hard to analyze how she feels about her father or if she even feels anything for him. Ellen depends on her mother to teach her and this is very obvious when it comes to the talk of religion.
Throughout this text we are able to see different hints pointing at the roles of parents, the relationships created with father and daughter, and how important learning from parents actually is. Ellen’s relationship with her father and mother are completely different, which shows how Ellen perceives her parents differently.
Hi Alex,
ReplyDeleteFirst of all great job with putting your thoughts into words. You are well-informed about the text and used it wisely to prove your points. I really agree with your idea of the fact that the text makes it hard for us to full grasp how Ellen sees her father, since he is so absent in her life. Also, I caught on to the fact that Ellen does depend on her mother so much for being taught how to act and be like a lady. You had great observations!
I think Ellen's attachment to her father can be seen by how little she thinks about missing her father. Ellen will obviously miss her mother, even though she thinks that her mother will eventually come back. She knows her father is going on the trip too but makes no mention of how she will miss him. From this and from the absence that Mr. Montgomery has in most of the text, we can infer that Ellen could care less if her father was sitting with her at dinner or if he was across the ocean.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that “the text encourages us to view the roles of parents as a structured guide to teach children” because that was such a clear theme. Mrs. Montgomery was almost always with Ellen and she continually taught her how to become a lady and how to grow in her faith. It seems as if mothers in the 19th century were given the responsibility to train the children in how to grow up while the fathers were being the financial providers.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you when you talk about how the text clearly defines the roles of parents. Ellen is so close to her mother and I feel like during this time period mothers and daughters were taught to be close while fathers and daughters were not. Maybe this could be because fathers were working and providing for their families and girls were taught how to be ladies.
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