In "A Mother in Mannville," why does Jerry lie about having a mother?
Jerry is an orphan, and so it's inevitable that he keenly feels the lack of a mother. That being the case, it's understandable that he should lie about having one. He's using his rich, vivid imagination to fill the mother-shaped hole that lies at the heart of his life.
It's a well-known psychological phenomenon that children will often invent imaginary friends as a way of dealing with their fears and anxieties of the outside world, and that's pretty much what Jerry's doing here. Most children find life hard to deal with at some point, but for a young orphan like Jerry, it's even harder. Pretending that he has a mother— someone who watches over him, loves him, and cares for him—makes life just a little bit easier to deal with.
The reason that Jerry lies about having a mother is not directly stated in Marjorie Rawlings's short story "
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The reason that Jerry lies about having a mother is not directly stated in Marjorie Rawlings's short story "A Mother in Mannville." Readers must make inferences as to the reason. Here are some things to think about to help in making inferences:
1. Jerry is twelve years old and living in an orphanage. He develops a friendship of sorts with the narrator, who is renting a cabin near the orphanage in order to do some writing. Jerry falls in love with the narrator's dog and spends time with him while the narrator is away.
2. Jerry is often invited into the cabin as it gets colder. The narrator describes the chats she has with him, as well as the times he and her pointer dog Pat doze in front of the fire together while she writes. This must have felt like the closest thing to a family he'd ever known.
3. When people have challenging circumstances in their lives, they often escape into imaginary realities in order to cope with their present difficulties.
Why does Jerry fabricate a story about a mother in Mannville?
The short story "A Mother in Mannville" is narrated by a writer who has gone to a remote location in the Carolina mountains to work on a story. The cabin she rents is on the property of an orphanage, and a twelve-year-old boy named Jerry shows up to help her with wood chopping and other chores. Gradually, as the narrator shows him kindness, she and Jerry become close, and Jerry also gets along well with the narrator's dog, Pat. Jerry is obviously starving for love, and he thrives on the attention that the narrator gives him.
Jerry and the narrator are sitting before a fire one evening when he tells her about his mother. He claims that she lives nearby, in Mannville, visits him sometimes, and sends him presents. The narrator becomes indignant and wonders how the mother could have abandoned such a sweet and special boy. We only discover at the end that Jerry has made up the story about his mother and that in fact he does not have a mother.
There are several reasons why Jerry might have made up the story about his mother. First of all, he might have fabricated the story as a sort of daydream long before the narrator arrived. Imagining a make-believe mother who is only temporarily away might have helped him cope with the loneliness of being an orphan who in reality has no family. Alternatively, he might have made up the story because he is ashamed of his status as an orphan and wants to impress and reassure the narrator. His motivation may also be a combination of the two: he daydreams of having a mother, and he shares his daydream with the narrator as if it is fact when he begins to trust her.
In "A Mother in Mannville," why did Jerry lie about having a mother?
The narrator in "A Mother in Mannville" by Marjorie K. Rawlings, describes Jerry as a boy with integrity. She describes it:
"My father had it--there is another of whom I am almost sure--but almost no man of my acquaintance possesses it with the clarity, the purity, the simplicity of a mountain stream. But the boy Jerry had it. It is bedded on courage, but it is more than brave. It is honest, but it is more than honesty." (Rawlings 4)
So, why would this boy with such an honest character lie? He has found in the narrator a mother figure-someone who he would very much like to be his mother. She is someone who listens to him, who respects him, who might even be able to love him, so Jerry tells her one day that she "looks like his mother," and from there, his story expands. He does not want this woman to think that someone could have given him up. Maybe he feels that by saying his mother is alive, the narrator will see that he is worthy of love-and especially of HER love.