The Mother · Chapter
XVI explained
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.
What happens
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.
Themes in this chapter
Motherhood and Sacrifice
The mother's grief over her blind daughter's absence and death, her secret love for her younger son, and her willingness to suppress her anger to protect him.
Isolation and Loneliness
The mother feels the house is full of emptiness, sits idle on the threshold, and is haunted by memories and the old sin.
Family Conflict and Favoritism
The mother favors her younger son over the elder, who shames her by working; she complains about her daughter-in-law's barrenness and clashes with the son's wife.
Characters to notice
- The Mother
Grieves the blind maid's absence, works to ease her fears, grows idle, secretly treasures her younger son's silver, and confronts the family after her daughter's death.
- The Elder Son
Objects to his mother working in the fields, is stubborn and uncomprehending, keeps his silver for himself, and does not offer his mother money.
- The Young Man
Visits occasionally, brings his mother brightness and secret silver, works in town with an unclear but profitable job, and leads the mother away after the daughter's death.
- The Young Girl
The blind daughter who is now dead; the mother finds her body and lays her garments neat.
- Child
The daughter-in-law remains barren, causing the mother to complain about the empty house.
Key passages
“Now must the mother somehow make her days full to ease the fears she had and to forget the emptiness where once the blind maid had sat.”
The mother had to fill her days to distract herself from her fears and the void left by her blind daughter.
Opening of the chapter, establishing the mother's emotional state.
“But the mother answered with a sort of heavy listlessness that did not leave her nowadays, 'You do not understand. You who are young—you understand nothing at all.'”
The mother replied with a persistent lethargy, telling her son he was too young to comprehend her feelings.
Shows the mother's growing detachment and the generational gap.
“Into her emptiness he came now and then, and with his coming brought her only brightness.”
Her younger son occasionally visited, and his presence was her sole source of joy.
Highlights the mother's favoritism and reliance on the younger son.
“But they did not think to put a bit of silver in her hand and say, 'Use it for any little thing you wish,'”
The elder son and his wife never gave her any spending money or encouraged her to buy small personal items.
Contrasts the elder son's neglect with the younger son's secret gifts.
“I wish you would bear a babe, daughter. A house should have a child or two or three in it.”
The mother told her daughter-in-law she wished for grandchildren, as a home needs children.
Reflects the mother's desire for continuity and her criticism of the daughter-in-law's barrenness.
“She paused and looked at this one and at that and then she said again, 'Before heaven do you stand and all the gods, and let them judge you, whatever you have done!'”
She stopped, looked around at the family, and called upon heaven and the gods to judge them for their actions.
The mother's final, restrained accusation after finding her daughter dead.
