Mothers dearest

It’s Mother’s Day this weekend in my home of Aotearoa New Zealand, and across the country people are celebrating the most personally influential women in their lives, including biological mothers and other maternal figures. Motherhood is also a powerful force in literature, so I asked around for people’s favourite mothers from literature. I was rewarded with a whole bunch of notable mothers and motherly figures, but there are two that I’m going to focus on who really stood out (and who I am familiar enough with to actually talk about: Marmee, from Louisa May Alcott’s novel Little Women, and Mrs Bennet from the perennial Austen favourite Pride and Predjudice. They particularly caught my attention because while they are both so beloved, these two women are completely different sorts of mothers.

Let’s have a look at the qualities that make them so endearing to readers.

Marmee

To the four sisters in Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women series greatly look up to their mother as a role model, and it’s easy to see why: she shines as a beacon of love, generosity, and forbearance during some very difficult moments. Marmee’s style of mothering is warm and gentle, but not weak. She has oceans of patience with her impulsive daughters, keeps their spirits up when times are hard, and encourages them to be their best selves, whatever that looks like. Furthermore, she is a font of wisdom and kindness, teaching the growing women in her care how to be good women.

Marmee is framed as a paragon of not just motherhood, but of womanhood in general (at least, a specific, nostalgic type of womanhood). In a way, she is an aspirational figure, almost too good to be true—the mother we all would have liked to have had, and that some want to become. Of course, we readers can’t all be just like Marmee, similarly to how Jo struggles to emulate her mother sometimes. But we can learn from her about what it is to be a good person, and we love her for her example.

Mrs Bennet

Mrs Bennet, on the other hand, is more a paragon of chaos than anything else. I don’t think anyone could seriously call her an exemplary mother, but if anything that makes her more realistic and relatable. She cares greatly for her daughters’ well-being, and does the best she can to try and get them well situated in marriages that will bring them comfort and security. The fact that her capability to be effective in this mission is quite limited is clear, but you do have to admire her tenacity.

Although Mrs Bennet’s fretful and frivolous nature grates heavily against her daughter Elizabeth, who takes much more strongly after her father, her affection is unquestioned, and Elizabeth’s familial loyalty is a testament to that. Mothers and children have had personality clashes throughout history, and the Bennet household boldly continues in that tradition. We may not aspire to be like Mrs Bennet, but she’s certainly a more common and achievable pattern: someone who is trying her hardest to manifest the best outcomes for those she loves, living in a constant swirl of commotion. It’s a good thing she lives for the drama, I must say.

Share this post with the mothers and readers in your life! And don’t forget to show your appreciation for those influential maternal figures in your life.