If you notice in the story, the parental role is switched between Ellen and Mrs. Montgomery. For example in the beginning it mentions that " To make her mother's tea was Ellen's regular business"(25). Mrs. Montgomery is very sick and needs to be taken care of; Ellen takes care of her mother in a way that shows her maturity at a young age. We already know that this book was written as a type of instruction manual for young women learning to become ladies. Even though Ellen's mother is very sick, she is capable of preparing Ellen for her future. You can see the importance of a mother on a young woman and how in this story the presence of the mother and absence of the father is evident. Ellen sees her mother as a mentor someone she can come to to ask advice. She is envious of her mother and it is obvious when she says "But mamma... you know he is not my friend in the same way that he is yours... Oh, I wish he was"(35).
You can tell that Ellen looked at her father in a different light. She did not want to learn from him or envy what he does. She considered her father someone who kept them comfortable in their home and safe from becoming poor. In one section Ellen and her mother are talking about how her father has lost another lawsuit and the consequences, "It has cause an entire change of all our plans. Your father says he is too poor now to stay here any longer" with Ellen's response being, "Well, mamma, that is bad; but he has been away a great deal before, and I am sure we were always very happy"(23). She is not worried about her father being in her life and is only concerned for her mother.
I like how you analyzed the relationship between Ellen and her father. It was hard for me to read between the lines to understand their relationship but its completely true that she does not learn from him or envy his role in life at all. I loved the textual support that you used because it shows how absent minded is to having her father around.
ReplyDeleteIt's really interesting the way you connected the motherly role being applied to Mrs. Montgomery AND Ellen. I also noticed that Ellen could act like a mom sometimes, especially with her mother's health condition. I think this is a result of the love between them, kind of like making up for the absence of a substantial father role. Great job!
ReplyDeleteI really liked the idea of how you think that the parent role switched between Mrs. Montgomery and Ellen. I have never looked at their relationship from that perspective and the text does set up the story for people to believe that. I also agree with how you believe that Ellen and her relationship with her father was viewed as nothing more than the provider for the household.
ReplyDeleteI like how you contrasted the role between Mr. and Mrs. Montgomery as a mother and father to Ellen. I agree with you that Ellen does look to her dad for financial stability and to keep them safe in the aspect of supplying money. I like how you called him the "provider" for the household because though he is never around, he is viewed at by Ellen as the provider for their family.
ReplyDeleteI liked how you talked about the role reversal between Ellen and her mother. Ellen is the one who is left to care for her sick mother and she makes her tea and toast and also reads to her mother. She is like the mother in many aspects of their relationship.
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