Parental Roles

Warner’s The Wide, Wide World gave insight to the roles that parents played in the lives of their children during the nineteenth century. The author used dialogue, or lack thereof, to display the interaction and relationship between parent and child. In The Wide, Wide World, parental roles are demonstrated by analyzing the relationship between Ellen Montgomery and her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Montgomery.

By the second chapter, it is obvious that Mrs. Montgomery’s role is one of a teacher. She wishes to instill wisdom and morality in her daughter through discussing the need for faith in God and His word. Through this teacher/student relationship, one can tell how close the two really are. Ellen hangs on every word her mother says, and almost worships her mother like her mother worships God. I believe this is evident when Ellen says (in response to her mother informing her that she should love no one more than she loves Jesus Christ), “…how can I be one of his children? I do love you a great deal better: how can I help it, mamma?” By saying this, Ellen is arguing that her mother is the one she loves above everyone else, not God. Because of this, I believe Ellen expects too much of her mother. It is almost unhealthy how infatuated she is with her mother. This obsession and dependency set her up for a hard fall when she was ripped away from her mother and moved to the country. It is obvious that Ellen and Mrs. Montgomery have a very close relationship, but I think it may be too close and affecting Ellen’s growth process.

After reading the excerpt, I noticed that Mr. Montgomery is hardly ever in the picture; therefore the role he plays in Ellen’s life is very small. When he is, he has a very harsh and controlling attitude towards his daughter. The role Mr. Montgomery plays probably reflects the role that most fathers played in the nineteenth century. In The Wide, Wide World, Mr. Montgomery is usually absent from the home because he is working. From my understanding, men at this time were meant to go to work to bring home money while the women were left at home to raise and teach the children. The father role in The Wide, Wide World is no different. Because of this absence, Ellen and Mr. Montgomery do not have a close relationship. In fact, I think their relationship leans more on a severe and harsh side. In the text, when Ellen’s day to leave arrives, Mr. Montgomery seems to completely disregard her feelings. After Mrs. Montgomery suggests that they wake up Ellen to inform her of her early departure as to not shock and upset her, Mr. Montgomery says, “In the hurry and bustle of getting off, she will not have time to think about her feelings; and once on the way, she will do well enough; children always do.” By stating that she will do “well enough”, he is putting aside her feelings – probably because he does not want to deal with them. This hard attitude put a wall between the father and daughter. Due to this wall, I don’t think Ellen expected any sort of compassion from her father. She probably defined her father’s love as the way he took care of her and her mother by working and bringing home money, and knew not to rely on him to care about her feelings or teach her valuable life lessons.

By analyzing the relationship between Ellen Montgomery and her parents, one can see the roles parents played in the lives of their children during the nineteenth century. These roles probably varied slightly in different families, but the basis was all the same - the father was often absent and was in charge of keeping the family financially stable, while the mother stayed home with the children and taught lessons.