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The relationship between a mother and her children has been explored in many great literary works. Though often presented as a complex dynamic, many writers have also observed the close bond between mothers and their children. This list explores some of the best mother-child relationships in classic literature that have captured imaginations and touched readers hearts for generations.
“I’d rather see you poor men’s wives, if you were happy, beloved, contented…”
Marmee, otherwise known as Margaret March, is one of the best fictional mothers. She is compassionate, principled and charitable and brings up her four daughters to share the same qualities. While her husband is fighting away in the Civil War, she provides for her children with whom she shares a close motherly bond. She never encourages any of them to marry for money, placing their best interests first. Her comment to Jo that she is ‘angry nearly every day of my life’ reveals her enduring outward patience despite her internal struggles.
'The business of her life was to get her daughters married.'
Mrs Bennet is quite the opposite to Marmee. Her sole focus is to marry off her five daughters to the most eligible men. While her efforts are self-serving – desperate to save herself from humiliation should her daughters remain spinsters – she is also well-intentioned. She desires for her daughters to be financially secure and have a place within society. Though she is closest to Lydia, the youngest Bennet, whose temperament is much like her own, her wish to settle all her daughters divides her good intentions equally between them.
"For listen, child of man, I loved thee more than ever I loved my cubs."
This book takes the relationship between a mother and her children into the animal world. Rudyard Kipling presents the wolf mother Raksha as a fiercely protective and wise creature. The bond between Raksha and her cubs is evident through her desire to protect them against danger. She not only nurses her own cubs but takes Mowgli, the human child, as her own. Kipling blurs the line between animal and human, creating a connection between the two ‘worlds’.
'They still came to her with every love and grief of their little hearts. For a few years longer they would be hers...'
To see the spirited Anne Shirley, one of literature’s best loved characters, become a mother herself is truly wonderful. Having seen Anne grow up throughout L. M. Montgomery’s series, watching her settle down feels only natural. Anne has seven children in the end, one who was still born, and is naturally a wonderful mother. She is hard working and caring and although managing her large family can be tough, her endurance prevails.
"I'm glad I consented to keep the child and that I'm getting fond of her..."
An honourable mention must also go to Marilla Cuthbert, who raised Anne as her own. Though presented as having a cold, unloving exterior, her fondness for Anne grows as the series progresses. She is always there to support Anne, to encourage womanly behaviour, to teach important life skills and to reprimand mistakes all in aid of raising Anne to be a fine, intelligent and strong young woman.
'Laura and Mary helped Ma with the work.'
Caroline Ingalls – Ma – was the real mother of Laura Ingalls Wilder and appears in Laura’s fictionalised autobiographical Little House series. Caroline is presented as a kind and gentle mother, faithful to her husband and set on raising her daughters to be strong women. Ma is always busy, cooking, mending, cleaning and providing so that her family may survive their often difficult existence as settlers and pioneers. Ma’s comforting presence, not only as a fictional character but a woman of flesh and blood, infiltrates her daughter’s writings.
‘Mothers never have favourites, but if their Mother HAD had a favourite, it might have been Roberta.’
Much like Marmee in Little Women, the mother in this book is kind, charitable and devoted to her family. Though much of the time her children are on their own adventures down by the railway, she shares a close relationship with them. She is both the caregiver and the breadwinner, with her husband away, and works to keep her family stable despite being faced with sudden poverty. She cares for all her children equally but is closest with the eldest, most sensible of her children, Roberta.
What makes these mother-child relationships so memorable is the strong bond that holds them all together. Whether the mother’s sole purpose is securing their children’s future, as with Mrs Bennet, instilling strong values, creating a loving environment or simply surviving against the odds, a strong familial bond and the desire to provide for their children lies at the heart of all they do.
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