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Mother's Day - Notes and Questions
Mother's Day - Notes and Questions
J. B. Priestley
The history of the modern western Feminist movements can be divided into three 'waves'.
Each is described as dealing with different aspects of the same feminist issues:
• The first wave - women's suffrage movements of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries
(Read Virginia Woolf's - ‘A Room of One’s Own’ – divorce, contraceptives, abortion)
• The second wave - women's liberation movement beginning in the 1960s (which campaigned
for legal and social equality for women. Read Simone de Beauvoir – 'Women as ‘the other’').
• The third wave - the perceived failures of second-wave feminism, beginning in the 1990s.
1) The play was written 1953 when feminism was still a relatively new concept and managed
to raise eyebrows and drop jaws when mentioned.
2) Mrs. Pearson is the quintessential English housewife while Mrs. Fitzgerald represents the
exotic mysteries of the east. The contrast makes them representative of the two extreme
cultures.
3) Try and analyse the social and personal causes behind Mrs. Pearson's problems. Is she a
victim of society or simply a woman unable to muster the courage required to usher change?
4) Mrs. Fitzgerald seems to be an answer to Mrs. Pearson's prayers. Remember that it is not
Mrs. Pearson who actually initiates the change in the family's attitude.
5) 'The tea' becomes a symbol of the oppressed woman caught in the domestic arena. The tea
is expected and taken for granted. The tea not being ready, even when not really wanted, is a
shock to the family. It is a deviation from the norm, an unwelcome change.
6) Consider the role of a woman in a family: before Mrs. Fitzgerald and thereafter.
7) Question yourself about whether Mrs. Pearson truly has the requisites to maintain the
change initiated by Mrs. Fitzgerald. In the absence of the traits required, how long with the
change survive?
8) Analyse the role of 'suspended disbelief' in the story. The magic seems an insignificant bit
in the overall scheme of things and yet is central to the plot of the story.
9) Analyse the characters of the men and women in the play apart from Mrs. Pearson and
Mrs. Fitzgerald. Reflect on the kind of family and social life the other characters represent.
10) Reflect on the fact that the play is written by a male playwright.
QUESTION BANK: