mothers in literature.

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Since it is Mother's Day, I thought not only of the cards I plan to give to the mothers in my life, but of the mothers that I got to know from the books that I have read. I tried to come up with a list, and was actually quite surprised that I didn't come up with a lot like I thought I would, but I did come up a few. For the good moms, I can only think of Mrs. Weasley from the HP series, Marmee from The Little Women, the moms in The Joy Luck Club, Mrs. Bennett in Pride and Prejudice, Claire Abshire from The Time Traveler's Wife...

And for the memorable, "bad" moms, I couldn't help but think of Mrs. Lisbon from The Virgin Suicides, Gertrude from Lady Macbeth, Norma Bates from Psycho, Margaret White from Carrie, the bad mother from Coraline...

So obviously, my question for you today, to commemorate this occasion; can you think of any more memorable fictional mothers? I would love to hear from you, as usual!

And so with that being said, I wish every single mom out there a very happy Mother's Day! Including soon-to-be moms, "like a mom" mothers, and most especially of course, my own mom! Thanks for raising me as a nerd and a bookworm who turned out surprisingly normal despite her natural weird ways. I love you!

12 comments:

  1. Lovely post dearie although I can't really think of any. Hope you have a great day!

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  2. Who first came to *my* mind was Ma Ingalls from the Little House books :)

    And the mom in Life As We Knew It is definitely a good mom!

    At first I was surprised to see Mrs. Bennett on your list, since, her nerves would get on my nerves. But then I saw who made your list of bad moms and everything came into focus! It's all a matter of perspective isn't it!

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  3. Aly - Have an awesome day too!! :)

    Becky - I guess Mrs. Bennett could be a good mom and a bad one. I can see why most would not see her as a good mom since she didn't really have many redeeming qualities whatsoever. But I guess as a whole she sort of meant well. I just think she stands out because she had a significant role in the lives of her daughters.

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  4. I love the mother in Maxim Gorky's Mother. I wrote about it here
    http://kafkatokindergarten.blogspot.com/
    Marmee from Little women would come a close second.
    Happy Mothers day

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  5. Ron's mom in Harry Potter. I LOVE her. GREAT post.

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  6. Che - I have never read that book, actually. Would you recommend it?

    Juju - I love her too!

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  7. It's true that there are few memorable mothers in literature! What a shame! I do however remember Mia's mom in the Princess diaries. She's so human, meaning that even though she's a mom, she makes mistakes, is kinda messy etc. You can't help but love her, for (and not in spite of) her faults! And I agree with you about Mrs Weasley.

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  8. Some mothers I will never forget - Harry's Mom- Lily, Desdemona - mother/grandmother from Middlesex, Ashima Ganguli - mother from Namesake and Flavia's Mom Hariet.
    Thanks for your Mother's day wishes. Your mom and I are very proud of you. Love you too!

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  9. Touloulou - Mia's mom was nice! She was definitely more of a realistic mom than anything else, and like you said, that's exactly the biggest part of her charm.

    And thanks Ninang! Hope you had a great one.

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  10. Great picks! I also like Mrs. Murry from the Wrinkle in Time series-- and Marilla from Anne of Green Gables-- and Cedric's mother in Little Lord Fauntleroy. I recently read Caddie Woodlawn so will add Mrs. Woodlawn too.

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  11. Lesa - O0ooh I did like Mrs. Murry as well!! I don't know why I didn't think of her. But then again I think I've left out a couple of stand outs too. I have actually never read Caddie Woodlawn, would you recommend?

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  12. Yes, very good-- loved it! If I had read it as a kid, it would have been a fave reread like Anne, little princess ect.

    I don't know if I will get to the specific post on it anytime soon-- so much to blog and so little time-- but I did feature it in a recent BBB bookhaul post and the comment discussion comparing Caddie to the Little House books was interesting.

    A link to Enbrethiliel's character connection post is included in my post as well-- that is where I first learned about Caddie.

    http://baja-greenawalts-cozybooknook.blogspot.com/2011/04/bargain-book-bonanza-8.html

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