A Female Code in the Witness

When speaking with my groupmates who were also reading the witness, a small observation evolved into a larger issue, that is that I hated the book while my co-patriots enjoyed it.  I think it is fair to assume that, I being male and all of the rest of the group being female, that there elements of the plot, archetypes and themes that are readily accepted by the female reader, that I as a male am questioning, resisting, and hating.  Although I did not have the opportunity to properly grill my classmates, I did learn a few things that I found interesting.

One of them was he idea of Elizabeth’s mother as the ultimate evil.
Elizabeth’s mother is brought up many times in the novel, with the general consensus among the many characters being some variation of , as the character Brooks states

“She may never have raised her hand to you, may have kept you clothed, fed, with a nice roof over your head, but honey, you were abused for the first sixteen years of your life.”

I of course had different opinions of “mother” a character who so micromanaged her daughter’s life that she felt stifled with a schedule filled with studying and learning and bereft of human interaction such as sleepovers, play dates, and romance.  As she herself states

“Independence comes in degrees, as does responsibility and freedom of choice.  You still require guidance and direction.”

This sounds more like a mother prodding her child into a productive direction than an evil “bitch” of a parent.  In fact not only does Elizabeth run away and never return, allowing her mother to think her dead, but her boyfriend Brooks agrees that she doesn’t deserve to see her again.  Although I don’t like the mother character or condone many of her actions (She hardly contacts her daughter after she is put into witness protection) I think this viewpoint of the strict mother is somewhat underserving.  Yet without fail, and without even going far into the book all three of my group-mates felt that the character was “evil.”

One possible explanation is the masculine nature of the mother.  She is an independent, workaholic surgeon who at one point gives up her own vacation simply so a colleague can have her own.  She also, when dealing with her daughter, prefers “logic” over emotional appeals.  When explaining the lack of break to Elizabeth she states.

“A girl of your age, physical condition and mental acumen hardly needs a break from her studies and activities”

And when Elizabeth is obviously emotional affected by their conversation and is of need of reassuring the mother declines to intervene, thus going against the “norm” of a reassuring, sensitive mother who is skilled in knowing emotional needs.

Perhaps it is that, as a man, I see the logic in much of what the mother says and although I fault her for not thinking of her daughter’s personality, I don’t see it as a primary fault, nor do I fault her mother from working so much and thus putting her professional needs first.  However, I can only guess that the idea of a mother who does not nurture her children would go against how a daughter would want to be raised.  Thus the hatred of that archaetype and perhaps an explanation of my softer feelings towards the character.