26 pages • 52 minutes read
Marjorie Kinnan RawlingsA Mother In Mannville
Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1936A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Character Analysis
The Unnamed Narrator
The unnamed narrator is the protagonist in this story. Rawlings’s choice to leave the narrator anonymous and indistinct—there are no indications of her age or appearance, for example—highlights her transitory position in Jerry’s life. The narrator also says little about her own personality, which instead emerges as she shares her thoughts with readers and as her relationship with Jerry progresses. That she is initially focused on her writing and brusque with Jerry suggests that she is not looking for relationships. She has rented the cabin to escape them, suggesting a desire for independence (especially from familial ties) that cuts against the gender norms of her day and highlighting The Different Kinds of Isolation.
Nevertheless, the narrator finds herself drawn to Jerry, whose care and honesty impress her. She enjoys his company enough that she invites him to visit in the evening, though only once she’s done writing, which remains her primary focus. Underscoring this, she one day loses track of time and leaves Jerry waiting for her—another indication of her nonconformity, as women’s typical role at the time was as nurturers, caregivers, and mothers. The intimacy of her conversation with Jerry beside the fire suggests that she is not wholly cold to such feelings: She imagines that Jerry “[feels] that he belong[s] to me as well as to the animal” and grows angry at the thought of Jerry’s mother leaving him at the orphanage (250). Ultimately, however, Jerry’s confession frees her of any growing sense of responsibility or attachment: “[H]is having a mother, any sort at all, not far away, in Mannville, relieved me of the ache I had had about him” (254). Their relationship returns to one that is friendly but somewhat detached and transactional, with the narrator fearing emotional goodbye scenes and trying to satisfy any lingering obligation by offering to leave the orphanage money to buy Jerry presents (an example of her Rationalization and Guilt). The only indication that she might regret the missed opportunity at motherhood is her lightly wistful tone throughout the story.
Jerry
Jerry is the orphaned boy the narrator befriends while living in the cabin. Rawlings’s physical description of Jerry highlights his lack of basic human needs: “The boy was probably twelve years old, but undersized. He wore overalls and a torn shirt and was barefoot” (242). His small stature suggests malnutrition, and his clothing is unsuitable for the conditions, implying his physical needs are unmet. Despite what he tells the narrator, he also lacks a family, which hints that his need for love and belonging is likewise unmet. His evident eagerness to spend time with the narrator—e.g., waiting outside her house when she forgets their meeting—lends credence to the idea that he is lonely.
Despite (or perhaps because of) his upbringing in an orphanage, Jerry has nevertheless developed qualities that deeply impress the narrator: working hard and accepting one’s circumstances without complaint. Jerry is eager to please and skilled in his work, but he does not expect anything from those around him, including the narrator. When she offers to pay him for creating the woodpile, she asks him what amount would be acceptable. Jerry shrugs and responds, “[A]nything is all right” (244). Although Jerry eventually grows closer to the narrator—he confides in her about what it’s like living at the orphanage—he never lets go of his self-possession. Ironically, this self-possession, which the narrator sees as so integral to The Nature of Integrity, likely contributes to his deception of the narrator: His habit of anticipating her needs and quietly fulfilling them suggests that he has likewise intuited her independence and does not want to burden her. Nevertheless, the way in which he praises the imaginary mother, telling the narrator that she brings him presents and that he sees her in the summers, speaks to a real longing for what he describes. His behavior when the narrator leaves likewise implies his desire for love and a family, as he refuses to eat, stops attending to his duties, and disappears into the laurel.
Related Titles
By Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
