Sarah Jeannette Duncans A Mother in

Helena however, reacts with swallowed anger and removes herself from Cecily and the situation. She does what she is allowed to do and little else. She recoils from the situation looking with repugnance at her alien possession. Morgan or the presence of her youthful attractive daughter. With her daughter present she will lose the status of lady and gain attention as the mother of a twenty one year old woman. This is also very childish, but understandable considering Helena’s emotional maturity. The relationship is tagged on too late by a pathetic father and a totally in-experienced mother who is now beyond caring. This story is an attack on Victorian domesticity and the pitfalls of being a mother in those times. Helena is expected to be maternal with a young woman whom she has not been allowed to raise. This is an un-fair position to be placed in by a requently absent husband. Helena is forced to draw on emotional experience for her daughter’s sake she finds immature childish emotions are all she has. No doubt there is truth to the story, but it’s lack of humour and it’s absence of love puts a hopeful purpose to the category of fiction. Cecily is as a doll to Helena that does not live up to its warranty upon close scrutiny. Cecily did not stand a chance of having a meaningful relationship with her mother and is to be pitied as a character in such a dark, lamentable story. Cecily is also frightened by the appearance of her estranged Mother and this is reasonable for a four year old.