Mike Smith
English 169T
“The Mother”
How much effort do people put forth to understand one another? In Ginzburg’s “The Mother,” a young woman is seen through her children’s eyes. Her boys are young and do not see what the mother has been through and continues to go through for their benefit. On the other hand, the boys’ grandparents and neighbors also do not seem to acknowledge the woman’s struggles and sacrifices. No one in this story seems to be willing to make the effort to understand anyone else.
The story takes place shortly after a war, most likely World War II. The children remember playing “among the ruins of the public baths, which had been blown up in an air raid” (324), and their grandmother wears a “picture of Uncle Orneste who had died in the war . . .” (325). These are people who have dealt with the tragedies of war and the death it brought; however, they cannot or will not realize the tragedy of the titular character’s current station in life. The......
Join Now or Login to view the rest of this paper.
Approximate Word Count: 507
Approximate Pages: 2 (260 words per double-spaced page) |