Picking The Best (and Worst) Mom in Literature for Mother’s Day Weekend
It’s really no contest
It’s Mother’s Day weekend in the United States, and a very happy Mother’s Day to all the moms reading this. For the auspicious day tomorrow when we honor the women who gave us life, I am choosing the best and worst mothers in literature, but before getting to that, here’s a fun fact. The National Retail Federation reports that we will spend $25 billion on mom, compared to $16 billion on dad come Father’s Day; this makes it the only time women are actually paid more than men. Maybe a better gift for mom this year would be fixing that particular problem.
While researching this piece (yes, I occasionally do research), I was surprised to find something I had not recognized before: I don’t read many books where the mother is a main character. My two favorite authors, Ernest Hemingway and Carlos Ruiz Zafon, rarely mention moms in their novels. I’m sure this goes beyond just my own reading; consider how many books you’ve read where the mother is either totally absent or dies when the main character is very young.
This could be an intentional choice on the part of authors to add dramatic tension, or maybe they’re just not that good at writing about mothers. Perhaps, and this is certainly possible, some authors are working out issues from their…
