Saturday, May 09, 2015

Three of the best--and three of the worst--mothers in literature

BBC.com Culture tagged three of the best--and three of the worst--mothers in literature. One of the good ones:
Marilla Cuthbert, Anne of Green Gables

Outwardly steely, the adoptive mother of red-haired orphan Anne reveals herself as a softie through the course of the 1908 novel: so much so that Margaret Attwood has claimed that Marilla is the true central character: “Only Marilla unfolds into something unimaginable to us at the beginning of the book. Her growing love for Anne, and her growing ability to express that love – not Anne's duckling-to-swan act – is the real magic transformation. Anne is the catalyst who allows the crisp, rigid Marilla to finally express her long-buried softer human emotions.”
Read about another mother on the list.

Anne of Green Gables is among Bea Davenport's top ten books about hair and the Observer's ten best fictional mothers.

Marilla's raspberry cordial in Anne of Green Gables is one of Jane Brocket's top ten food scenes in children's literature.

--Marshal Zeringue