# XIII explained — The Mother

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

## What happens

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.

## Themes in this chapter

### Motherhood and Sacrifice

The mother's love for her children is shown through her physical labor, her guilt over her daughter's blindness, and her protective favoritism toward her youngest son.

### Blindness and Disability

The daughter's blindness is central to the chapter, affecting her daily life, her mother's emotions, and the family's future plans for her marriage.

## Character check-ins

### The Mother

Now in her forty-third year, she remains lean and strong but feels the weight of age. She struggles with her daughter's blindness and her own guilt, and she openly favors her youngest son.

### The Young Girl

The blind daughter now fully acknowledges her blindness. She uses a staff and a small gong to move about, and she is clever in household tasks, though her mother feels both pity and pain when looking at her.

### The Elder Son

Now nineteen, he is hardworking and gentle with all except his younger brother, whom he beats for laziness. He offers to care for his blind sister and urges his mother to rest.

### The Young Man

The younger son is idle and fond of gaming. He avoids work and his elder brother's wrath by hiding at the cousin's house, and he is the mother's favorite.

## Key lines

> Now the mother was no longer young. She was in her forty and third year, and when she counted on her fingers sometimes in the night how many years her children’s father had been gone, she used the fingers of her two hands and two more over again, and even the years that she had let the hamlet think him dead were more than all the fingers on one hand.

The mother is now forty-three, and at night she counts the years since her husband left, needing more than two hands to tally them, including the years she pretended he was dead.

_Highlights the mother's aging and the long absence of her husband._

> Oh, mother, I am blind—well I know I am blind! I cannot see your face at all now, and if I went out from our own dooryard across the threshing-floor, I could not see the way to go.

The daughter openly confesses her blindness to her mother, saying she can no longer see her face or find her way outside the yard.

_Marks the daughter's full acknowledgment of her blindness._

> It was true the mother did love this youngest son the best, and he moved her heart as neither of the others did.

The mother admits to herself that she loves her youngest son more than her other children.

_Reveals the mother's favoritism and the emotional conflict within the family._

## Links

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