Mother-Daughter Relationships In Donna Milner's After River

Human beings learn from, and take qualities from people they encounter in their lifetime. All relationships are give and take; in a sense where they learn qualities of each other that they like, and they make it their own. Since relationships of any kind fall on a spectrum, there will most likely always be someone who gives more and someone who takes more. Donna Milner’s After River alludes to the give and take theory in the form of a mother-daughter relationship between Nettie Ward, the mother, and Natalie Ward, the daughter. Throughout the story, it shows how Nettie interacts with different people, and situations, and how Natalie idolises her mother so much that she learns from her mother’s actions and applies it to the similar situations she faces. It also shows the problems, and the struggles that follow, and persist. Natalie’s struggle is to communicate to her mother, who teaches her to not talk about her …show more content…
In regard to the Ward family, Nettie is the teacher, taking into consideration the time period in which the story takes place and consequently, her role as the ideal housewife of the 1960’s. As a housewife in the 60’s, Nettie takes care of the menial jobs, including raising the children. Upon the discovery of the condom in Morgan’s jeans, Nettie’s approach to dealing with it was “I never heard mom say a word to [Morgan] about her discovery [of the condom]” (Milner 13). Nettie letting Morgan know that she found the condom is very subtle but did not spark a talk about the safety of sex, nor how religion fits into this situation. How Nettie dealt with this situation is a peek into how Nettie is as a parent, and as a person, and how she doesn’t convey much verbally. Nettie’s act shows Natalie how actions speak louder than words, and how words are not always be