In Warner’s The Wide, Wide World we can see the relationship between the parents and children to be very cut and dry. There is no way to miss out on the views from the 19th century on how parenting was to happen. In the part of Warner’s The Wide, Wide World, we see that the mother is the one that is to bring up the children. She works out of the home and is in charge of rearing the children. The father is nowhere to be found, and has no apparent relationship with or really cares for the child. The father shows his complete annoyance with his daughter, Ellen, and we see that Ellen does whatever is necessary to no bother her father. For example, before Ellen and her mother go shopping, we find her reluctant to go into the dining room until her father has completed his meal and moved on. I think that Ellen, despite her excitement for the day’s activities is partially afraid of her father. She does not have the relationship with him that she has with her mother. Also, when it is time for her to leave to go to her aunt’s house, Ellen is hugging her mom and sobbing over losing her mother. When her father comes up the stairs he is merely the bearer of bad news, and he barely even says goodbye to his only daughter.
In this story I do believe that the father is an exaggeration of how most would act with their children. I do agree with what is stated and shown about the mother. It is just natural for a mother to have the paternal instincts to care for the child and bring them up to be little ladies or gentlemen. I wonder if Ellen had been a boy then her father would have paid more attention to her? It works well with the story though for her father to ignore her, because then we see how important her parents are. I think Ellen respects her father, but feels neither love nor affection for him. I mean who could blame the girl. Her father completely ignores her and doesn’t even care that he is taking her mother away from her. I think Ellen doesn’t really expect much from her father, but expects the world from her mother. Showing us the true tie to the mother that the children of the 19th century had.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI am glad someone realized how over exaggerated the role of the father was throughout Warner's text. Just the mere fact that he was rarely mentioned shows how Warner expresses her sexist ideals about men in general. i didn't appreciate how the author practically molded all the male characters into either inconsiderate a**holes (Mr. Montgomery) or conniving wrongdoers (store clerk). The only man who actually promotes good in this story is the old man in the store
ReplyDeleteI really like how you question the possibility of Ellen's father paying more attention to her if she had been a boy. That is such a great point. It started getting ridiculous how much of a jerk Ellen's dad was being, and I was kinda hoping Ellen's mom would smack him at some point. Great job!
ReplyDelete