The image of the mother in the novel «Bread and salt» by M. Stelmakh

Abstract

The article examines the image of Kateryna Chaichenko, in particular reveals the essence of the concept of «mother’s image», emphasizes the peculiarities of the national archetypes of the image of the Mother. The purpose of the article is to investigate the image of the mother in the novel «Bread and salt» by M. Stelmakh. A careful reading of the text of the novel gave reason to single out the following components of the image of Kateryna Chaichenko: the author presents the woman's appearance very succinctly – short, thin; her relationship with her son and his children: Ivan Chaichenko and his wife and children live with their mother; the relationship between Kateryna Chaychenko and her daughter-in-law is good, the women get along with each other; the mother’s love for her son is so strong that the woman sacrifices her life – she agrees to sell the family’s house and land, so that Ivan Chaichenko and his family have money for the trip and for the first time, while they get settled and establish life in a new place; the woman is extremely kind: she goes «to the storeroom», that is, she rents a storeroom from the same poor family as hers; the woman takes care of the numerous children of the Granchaks, with whom she lives, for free, because there is nothing to pay her; gradually she gives them for food the grain that her son left her, so that she could sow it in the spring; the woman gives the last grain to Granchakas to save a child’s life; Kateryna Chaychenko sacrifices herself for the second time – she goes to the parish clerk to ask for some grain and permission to beg. At the same time, she understands that she does not have much time left to live, perhaps until the next winter, when, begging from village to village, she will freeze on the road or under someone’s blanket. The image of Kateryna Chaichenko is close to the archetypal image of the Good Mother.