# III explained — The Mother

> Chapter companion for The Mother by Pearl S. Buck.

## What happens

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.

## Themes in this chapter

### Motherhood and Sacrifice

The mother endures labor and pain, balancing her own needs with those of her children, and ultimately finds rest and connection through the birth.

### Poverty and Survival

The setting is a small hamlet with no hired midwife; the mother labors in the fields and gives birth in a humble home, highlighting the harsh realities of rural life.

### Family Conflict and Favoritism

The mother's anger at her son's crying and her subsequent softening reflect the tensions and affections within the family.

## Character check-ins

### The Mother

Gives birth to her fourth child, a son, with the assistance of her cousin's wife. She experiences pain, anger at her children, and then tenderness.

### Cousin

The cousin's wife acts as midwife, helping the mother through labor and delivery, and later brings soup.

### The Old Mother

An old woman who chatters and offers advice during the birth, later laughs at the boy's clever question.

### The Elder Son

The mother's son who cries at the closed door, is cuffed by his mother, and later asks if the newborn is 'ours to keep.'

### The Young Girl

The blind daughter who whimpers and beats on the door, then sits beside her mother holding her hands against her eyes.

### Child

The newborn son, delivered by the cousin's wife and laid beside the sleeping mother.

## Key lines

> When the beans she had planted in the field were come to flower and the winds were full of their fragrance and when the valley was yellow with the blooming of the rape they grew for the oil they pressed from its seeds, the mother gave birth to her fourth child.

In spring, when the crops were in bloom, the mother delivered her fourth child.

_Sets the seasonal context for the birth._

> But the mother was well made, not too small or slight, and loosely knit and supple in the thighs, and there was never anything wrong with her.

The mother was physically strong and had no complications in childbirth.

_Describes the mother's physical resilience._

> Then did the cousin's wife run forward and she caught nimbly in her two hands that little child for whom they waited, and it was a son.

The cousin's wife quickly caught the newborn, who was a boy.

_Highlights the moment of delivery and the child's gender._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_mother_se/chapters/iii
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_mother_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_mother_se/chapters