The Wide, Wide World Prompt

In Susan Bogart Warner's, The Wide, Wide World, her approach to the idea of parenthood goes outside of the norm of the time. The traditional role of parents is to provde their child or childreen with food, clothing, shelter, warmth, and anything else that they may require throughout their childhood. However in little Ellen Montgomery's case, this is a bit different. Yes the father provides money to support his family, he does not provide warmth or love to his child or wife for he is absent most of the time. I feel Warner wants us to view him as the sort of devil that comes in and places a hex on Mrs. Montgomery's God loving home with his news that they must leave Ellen and go to Europe. And Ellen's mother, though tries to do what she can, is unable to provide her daughter with food and warmth because she is ill and unable at most times to even move. It seems that Warner has reversed the traditional mother-daughter relationship and made it as though we should view Ellen as the mother and Mrs. Montgomery as the child. She shows this mainly through Ellen's daily priority of fixing her mother toast and tea. This is a huge chore for Ellen, and one she puts above any need or want of her own. Warner even describes Ellen's task of making the tea and toast through several pages of description. This idea that Ellen's main priority is to provide and take care of her mother was really portrayed when a box of all of Ellen's new things her mother and her had bought that day was delivered to the house. All Ellen wanted to do was open the box and go through all her nice and new items. However she had not yet made her mother's toast and tea and the fire was burning low. So she had to make a decision on what was more important and she chose the task of making her mother's tea and toast. It is a mother's job to put the needs of her child before her own, and that is exactly what Ellen Montgomery does.

During this time in American society, the role of the father was to provide an income and support his family. He is occasionally involved with his children but mainly plays an outside role and their upbringing. Mr. Montgomery in The Wide, Wide World certainly lives up to the stereotype of the nineteenth century American dad. He is barely present in the household to the extent where Ellen can not even feel a connection to God as a "heavenly father" because she feels no connection to her real father. This is a conflict with which she struggles with throughout the entire novel. We are given the impression that he is very stingy with money, even when it comes to the matter of supplying his daughter with what she needs after both parents have left her. His wife is forced to sell her own mother's ring because he only provided her with an amount of money that is "Barely sufficient for Ellen's mere clothing". He clearly has no empathy for the pain and sadness that Ellen and her mother are enduring because of their impending separation. This is really shown at the end when the time comes that Ellen must be taken away and they must go to England. Mrs. Montgomery shouts and begs that she must awaken Ellen and tell her at once, only to be shamed by her husband as he says, "Why in the world should you wake her up, just to spend the whole night in useless grieving?" Clearly this is a man who has no interest or care in the emotions and needs of his own family.

In nineteenth century American society, the stereotypical mother was the provider for not only her husband but her children as well. She is the glue that held everything together but never showed all that she did. She nutured every member of her family and made sure she put everyone else's needs above her own. In the case of Mrs. Montgomery in The Wide, Wide World, she does not exactly fit into the stereotypical role of a mother. She has been plagued with an illness that allows her to do very little if anything at all. Ellen must make her tea and toast, read to her, and often times dress her. Ellen is not allowed to let her emotions show so that it will not make her mother upset and anxious. In the case of Mrs. Montgomery, it's seems as through she plays the role of daughter instead of mother. However, she does all that she can do when it comes to the fact that she will not see her daughter again. She takes Ellen out, despite her doctor saying she mustn't move of be excited for it will worsen her condition, and buys her all that she will need. She does this because she knows she will not be there in the future to get these things for her, a sad but real truth. Although Mrs. Montgomery takes ont he role of child, it is certainly not by choice. She still does her best to not let Ellen see the pain and sadness in her eyes everytime she thinks of never seeing her again. She still has Ellen read passages of the bible that she hopes Ellen will take lessons from and gives her advice that she hopes she will take to the heart and use will she grows up.

I feel that Ellen perceives her dad as "Captain Montgomery", but not as father. He is mentioned little in the story by Ellen and when she does mention it it is usually regarding her eagerness for him to leave after breakfast or how long he is taking one morning at breakfast. When he comes to her bed and awakes her to tell her that she is leaving, she does not say a word, she does not even cry for him. She is simply thinking about seeing her mother and how upset she is that her father did not wake her sooner. This is because she feel no attachment to him. He is simply a barrier between her and her mother. Ellen is even unable to feel an attachment to God because she feels no link to the male gender due to her father's absence and lack of love. Because of this she often envision this "Heavenly father" as a women because she is used to the love and dependence she feels for her mother. She wants to feel a connection to God like her mother does but she cannot when she thinks of him as a male. This kind of goes along with how Ellen perceives her mother because she basically views her mother as God. Ellen will change her opinions or decision to go along with what or how her mother feels. When they were picking out her bible, Ellen made two choices before deciding on the one she got. This is because although Ellen loved the two prior choices, her mother did not, so she did not buy them. Ellen's approval and love from her mother meant everything to her. She does as far as to breaking down when she asks her mother, "Do you love him (God) better than you do me?" and her mother answered, " I do my daughter." When Mrs. Montgomery intially told her she would be leaving Ellen, they only thing that got Ellen through the day was the thought of all the wonderful accomplishments she would have while her mother was away that would make her so proud. To Ellen, her mother was God. Her mother continuously read her passages from the bible about God but Ellen could only relate to them in terms of her mother.