Mother

by Judah Waten

Judah Waten tells the story of a migrant family and their journey and struggles of those who up-end themselves into a different culture, in his short story Mother. He explores the hardships migrant families go through in order to acclimatise into a different society and way of life, and the struggles that come when trying to fit into a new culture. 

Waten addresses the insecurity that comes when trying to find a stable place when you move to a new country, ‘Our house always looked like we had just moved in or we were about to move out.’ This quote shows how families can feel unstable, and keep like this incase they have to move at a moments notice. This leads people to become attached to objects for sentiment reasons, as they have lost that sense of belonging. Waten shows this through the mother, ‘She never parted with anything, no matter how old it was.’ 

Waten also accurately illustrates the struggle that some have adjusting to this new way of life and new culture, ‘She [mother] would have nothing of this country; she would not even learn the language.’ While the children and the father have a slightly easier time adjusting to this new country, the mother had a harder time … ‘Before she was one day off the ship she wanted to go back.’ This conviction didn’t end with homesickness, ‘Mother never lost this hostile and ironical attitude to the new land.’ Waten successfully demonstrates how acclimatising to a new home is more difficult for some than others … ‘he [Father] began to regard this new country as his permanent home.’