The Wide, Wide World

In the story Wide, Wide World, we get the sense of the traditional family lifestyle back in these times. The father was in charge of providing the necessary needs for the family such as the money, he was the one that would work. While the mother of this time was known to be a stay-home mom who taught the kids and took care of the house. Well a turn of events occur, forcing this family to live a different lifestyle after Mr. Montgomery loses a lawsuit and is unable to provide the necessary amounts of money. Then Mrs. Montgomery becomes ill and this plays a huge role on Ellen's life. The doctor says it would be best for Mrs. Montgomery to move to another location far, far away and Ellen may never see her mother again. Ellen has to become very mature very quickly. She is the one who must take care of her mother while her dad is at work, and who is never around.

During this time period the dad never had part in the childs life, it was said that the fathers almost didn't even know their children. We can tell in the beginning of the story that Ellen doesn't feel comfortable around her dad when she waits for him to leave for work so she can come downstairs for breakfast. The father still carries the families roles in our time period, being responsible to support his family with enough money to allow his wife to stay home and take care of the kids and watch over the house. Once Captain Montgomery loses the Lawsuit we can tell that money is short once Mrs. Montgomery has to sell her own belongings to buy Ellen the things she needs in order to write her mom once she moves across the ocean. I see the relationship between father in child at the end of the story when Ellen must leave, Mr. Montgomery acts like its not big deal that Ellen is leaving and at sometime one must say goodbye and then its easy to overcome.

In this story warner reverses the roles between the mother and the daughter as the story goes along. As Mrs. Montgomery becomes ill she cannot take care of herself and the eight year old daughter must do just about everything that an ordinary mother would do. She must do the cooking, run the errands, and take care of her mother. She gets very close to her mother and her mother tells Ellen you MUST love god he will watch over you and take your hand. You have to love him more than me. All this leads to Ellen's life almost skipping her, childhood, early teen years.

I think Ellen's perception toward her father is like a "I could care less "type of reaction as she lives her life. She has become accustomed to her dad being gone for long period of time, also she didn't ever really care to see him. On the other hand Ellen feels like she is the one and only person that is up for the job to take care of Mrs. Montgomery. Her relationship with her mother resembled the scene in the end when her dad couldn't pry her off her mother when it was time for Ellen to leave. She would do anything for her mother and never wanted to disappoint her, she looked up to her mom always asking for the good advice. Ellen feels now that she is prepared for when her parents leave and that she will be able to take care of herself with the help of her aunt.