In class today we had a great discussion on what we think about the mother and her sacrificing her children.
While we never actually had a huge debate on it, I was just wondering what everyone thought. Sacrificing your children can be pretty extreme, but did anyone see her reasoning at least, even if they didn't support it? Did anyone think the mother sent her children into the forest because she figured they were strong enough to survive on their own?
War can have such a huge and lasting impact on culture, economies and families, and sometimes parents have had to make decisions to ensure their child's safety or their own safety, and those decisions can be questionable.
Consider this clip from Sophie's Choice (Spoilers if anyone wants to watch this movie in full, but this scene is crucial so you should watch it, regardless)
Now, in the Gaiman version we read in class today and in Sophie's Choice, both families are greatly affected by war. The two mother figures in each both decide to give up their children for one reason or another. The only reason I bring this up is because in class we were so quick to condemn the mother's reasoning, but many people who have seen this movie see Sophie's decision as noble, brave and heart-wrenching, despite the fact that she made a similar choice to the mother in Hansel and Gretel. They both address the "one death is better than two" argument in some way or another.
What do you all think? Is one mother "worse" than the other? Do you think either of them were justified in doing this? Is one circumstance more "forgivable" than the other, and why? What do you think of the mother's decision to "lose" her children? What about Sophie's decision?
What might you do in either of those situations?
I would love to hear everyone's thoughts!
Brittany
Wow... that really put a damper on this afternoon! Just kidding, but that scene is very emotionally involved. I think that is a very visceral representation of the "one death is better than two" argument. It is very sad but I think is a much more helpless circumstance than the one in the story.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I think the definitive difference between the two plot lines was "lose one or the other" and "us or them". If Hansel and Gretel was a story about a family who scavenged for food in the woods and encountered a witch that both the parents were told "choose one" it would be comparable to this story.
However, I think the most vile and inhuman part of the tale is the fact that the mother commits such premeditated evil multiple times. She embodies the role of the sociopath betrayer. To me she is the malicious evil in the tale.
The witch seems innocent in comparison, she follows her nature. Which as much as I have denounced the mother I guess a point of comparison to her "motherly compassion" or "means to an end" would be not just cooking the kids themselves!
If anyone from the Hansel and Gretel plot line could be compared to this woman in the clip it would, in my opinion, most definitely be the Father. Both characters could have rebelled against their circumstance in defending their child however bleak the chance of a solution, but a meek, overwhelmed, and without much resource for change so they follow the status quo even though they know deeply they are wrong. They are persuaded by power structure in their own lives to lower their morality as a means for comfortable survival (even more so in the tale, the movie breaks my heart).
I think it must be kept in focus that both of these actions are a choice and an unforgivable one. I don't have children and I can't imagine living a 3rd world circumstance of poverty without food but I would like to think I would forage for absolutely anything for my children until my energy gave out. I think this is also a contemporary shift in the view of a parental child relationship. Parents viewed children and helping hands where now I think we view children as dependents in need of nurturing and protection.
Sorry just had another thought... even the witch in the tale is more motherly than their mother! While she fattens Hansel up to eat him she tries to share in her life with Gretel and teach her everything she knows. While this is a completely bizarre and surreal (ha ha ha) familial structure I could even compare the witches humanity in sparing Gretel to the woman from the clip! She makes the "one or the other" choice... not to say she wouldn't have eaten Gretel when she grew hungry after Hansel... But still, Even she, starved by famine and not a human herself, shows compassion to one of the characters.
DeleteI didn't even think about it as "lose one or the other" and "us or them", but you are totally right in that regard. Your response was really insightful!
Delete