An Exploration of Parental Roles in The Wide, Wide World

In The Wide, Wide World, Susan Bogart Warner’s approach to parenthood is atypical, at least. In the traditional sense, the role of the parent is to provide a child with food, protection and instruction that enables the child to function in society. For Ellen’s family, this may have been the case for a while: the father providing the money and food, the mother providing training and care. But, due to extraneous circumstances (Mrs. Montgomery’s sickness and Mr. Montgomery’s legal troubles), traditional parental roles were abandoned or confused.

In nineteenth century American society, the role of the stereotypical father was to provide income, the physical needs of his family. Compared to his wife he has a minimal role in raising the children. In The Wide, Wide World, Mr. Montgomery takes this stereotype to a nearly comical extreme. It is explicitly stated that Mr. Montgomery is gone “most of the time.” In fact, he is absent throughout nearly the whole story. Even when he is present, the reader gets the impression that he is apathetic. He gives Mrs. Montgomery “a sum” of money that is only “barely sufficient for [Ellen’s] mere clothing.” The story continually implies he is tight with money and is not in touch with his family’s needs. Overall, the story paints a very critical image of ‘breadwinner’ parenthood. In fact, the concept of fatherhood is so perverted that Ellen has trouble relating to a “heavenly father”; instead, she must visualize the Christian god as a mother--someone she can depend upon.

Apart from her seemingly harsh disposition and dire illness, Mrs. Montgomery is portrayed as an ideal mother. Though, the extent of her sickness has disallowed her to perform any motherly duties. Warner creates an interesting reversal of roles as Ellen cares for her mother as if she were her own child. She must prepare her meals, care for her emotionally and keep the house in order. Ellen's "behavior was such as would have become many years" as she cared for her mother. Overall, we see a dying mother is passing the maternal torch to an all-too-young girl. She must mature and learn quickly in order to survive.

Personally, I identify strongly with Ellen. I lived through nearly identical circumstances when my family was in Saudi Arabia. After the bombing of the Khobar towers (US Air force housing) and numerous threats on school buses, barracks and bases, the government decided to evacuate all military dependants. My father (the only non-dependant) had to stay behind for another eight months to finish his service in a life-threatening environment. Although I was only six, I distinctly remember crying over a photo of my dad the day before we left, wondering if I would ever see him again. My dad came in the room, took the photo and told me I needed to control myself. That was an extraordinarily painful part of my life, but eight months later it was all over. All the real peril was gone, but it left its mark. I don’t think I have truly felt like a kid since. With this experience I know Ellen perceived the role of her parents during her tragedy: she saw it exactly as it was before. The difference is that she must live with the reality that the norms do not apply in abnormal situations. As Ellen comes to terms with the gap between the ideal and the reality, her actions often read as ‘preteen angst,’ but this is not the case. Ellen is working with all her might to restore the status quo: the way it was. The tragedy of this story is that she will never achieve the pre-tragedy bliss; you cannot rewrite history just because you don’t like its implications.