The Mother · Chapters
Chapters explained
Chapter companions for The Mother by Pearl S. Buck.
Chapter 1
I
The mother labors in the kitchen, feeding the fire and caring for her family, including a blind old grandmother and two young children. She reflects on her harsh life, her quick temper, and her deep compassion, especially for her daughter with sore eyes. A quarrel with her husband over her constant nursing highlights the strain of poverty and survival.
Chapter 2
II
The mother's daily routine is depicted, including caring for the blind old grandmother and her daughter's sore eyes. She reflects on the old woman's stubborn longevity and her own contentment with the cycles of labor, family, and the land. The chapter emphasizes her acceptance of life's hardships and her quiet tenderness.
Chapter 3
III
The mother gives birth to her fourth child, a son, with the help of her cousin's wife and an old woman. Her two older children, a boy and a blind girl, react to the closed door. The mother struggles with pain and anger but ultimately finds peace in the birth.
Chapter 4
The Man's Restlessness and the Quarrel
The man, young and handsome, feels trapped by his domestic life and longs for pleasure and adventure. He resents his wife for bearing children easily and for not praising him as others do. A quarrel erupts when he buys a blue robe from a pedlar, deepening the rift between them.
Chapter 5
V
The mother waits anxiously for her husband's return after he leaves with the silver. She lies to the villagers, claiming he has gone to work in a far city, and endures the gossip and pity of the hamlet. As days turn into months, she single-handedly reaps the rice harvest, threshes the grain, and prepares the family for winter, all while hoping he will return for the new year festival. She mends the children's clothes, cuts down her husband's coat for the boy, and silences doubters with steadfast lies, but her longing and fear grow as no letter or word comes.
Chapter 6
The Letter
A letter arrives from the husband, bringing news and money. The mother orchestrates a public reading to restore her reputation, but privately feels the money is meaningless. She eventually buries the silver, finding a strange peace and forgiveness.
Chapter 7
Spring's Longing
As spring returns, the mother labors in the fields with her son and teaches her blind daughter simple tasks. She is called to assist her cousin's wife in childbirth, and the experience awakens a deep longing for her absent husband. Returning home, she struggles with frustration and tenderness toward her youngest child.
Chapter 8
VIII
The mother reflects on her deep, innate longing for motherhood and physical connection with children, tracing it back to her youth when she cared for a neighbor's baby. She envies her cousin's full, contented household and grapples with her own unsatisfied desires as her children grow older and more distant.
Chapter 9
IX
The mother struggles with her husband's absence, torn between longing and anger. During the rice harvest, the landlord's agent visits and, sensing her loneliness, refuses his fee and touches her hand, igniting a dangerous attraction. The mother is shamed yet drawn to him, and the agent begins to find excuses to return to the hamlet.
Chapter 10
The Heat of Desire
In the oppressive early summer heat, the mother encounters the landlord's agent while watering her rice fields. Despite her attempts to resist, her own burgeoning desire and his persistent gaze draw her into a fateful meeting at a ruined shrine, where she succumbs to her passion while covering the eyes of the gods.
Chapter 11
The Unyielding Seed
The mother, now pregnant from her adultery, lives in fear and shame, hiding her condition from her children and the hamlet. She mourns the old mother's death publicly to mask her own guilt. The townsman abandons her, and she fabricates her husband's death to explain his absence, even paying a letter writer to forge a death notice. When she confronts the townsman, he dismisses her with cold contempt. Her eldest son grows restless and wants to seek his father, forcing her to invent further lies to delay him.
Chapter 12
XII
The mother, burdened by guilt over her past sin and its possible effect on her blind daughter, makes a pilgrimage to a distant temple to pray for the girl's sight. After her prayer, she feels uncertain and returns home, where she resolves to take her daughter to town for treatment. The next day, they set out early, and the mother struggles with her own memories and fears as she leads her daughter along the unfamiliar road.
Chapter 13
XIII
The mother, now in her forty-third year, reflects on her aging body and her continued strength. She struggles with the reality of her daughter's blindness, which the girl now openly acknowledges. The mother gives her a small gong and has a staff made to help her navigate. Meanwhile, the elder son, now nineteen, works hard and is gentle with all except his younger brother, whom he harshly chastises for laziness. The mother admits she loves the youngest son best, and the household is filled with conflict.
Chapter 14
XIV
The mother struggles with her new daughter-in-law's quiet independence and different ways, feeling displaced in her own home. Meanwhile, her favoritism toward the younger son causes a violent confrontation between the brothers during the rice harvest, revealing the elder son's deep resentment.
Chapter 15
The Binding of the Blind Maid
After a severe illness, the mother grows weak and increasingly dependent on her son's wife. Pressured by the household and her own frailty, she reluctantly agrees to wed her blind daughter to a poor family in the hills. The old gossip arranges the match, and despite her initial resistance, the mother accepts the necessity.
Chapter 16
XVI
The mother struggles with emptiness after her blind daughter's departure, returns to work despite her elder son's objections, and finds solace only in her younger son's secret gifts of silver. She grows idle, haunted by memories and the old sin, while her daughter-in-law's barrenness deepens the household's silence. The chapter ends with the mother discovering her blind daughter dead, confronting the family that took her in, and suppressing her anger for fear of them.
Chapter 17
Chapter XVII
The mother returns home after her blind daughter's death, consumed by grief and guilt. She blames her elder son's wife for the tragedy and curses her childlessness, though the community gently reminds her of her own hasty decisions. The younger son comforts her, and she begins to focus on his future marriage and children as her only solace. Her physical illness and old sins weigh heavily on her, leaving her weak and mournful.
Chapter 18
The Younger Son's Return
The younger son returns home, bringing the mother fleeting comfort. He is restless and distant, staying only nine days before leaving again. He comes and goes without warning, idling in the hamlet and speaking radical talk. The mother dotes on him, saving treats and stealing eggs, while the elder son grows bitter with resentment. The mother sees no fault in her younger son, cherishing his presence and his small gifts.
Chapter 19
XIX
The mother waits anxiously for her younger son, who has hidden a mysterious bundle under her bed. He eventually returns with news that his wife has given birth to a son, bringing the mother great joy and a sense of atonement. Later, she learns from a cousin that her son has been arrested as a communist and is to be executed.
