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valihaA little over six months ago, my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. She had surgery, went through chemotherapy and now she’s on meds. Her spirits are high and she’s doing well.
Her illness got me thinking about the Mag7 and their mothers. We know only bits and pieces about them, and they all seem to be deceased, with one obvious exception – Maude. We know that J.D.’s mother died shortly before he headed West, that Vin’s mother died when he was five, and that Buck’s mother was a working girl. We can assume she’s also dead, since he speaks of her in the past tense, and with reverence (She was a saint). Nathan’s mother killed herself when she found out that she was pregnant by the white man who had raped her. We know nothing about Chris’ and Josiah’s mothers.
That leaves us with Maude.
We know she’d been married five times, but not which of those husbands was Ezra’s father, if any of them was. She elicits various and often contradicting emotions from the fans. There seem to be two views of Maude, which I will call the Viper and the Victim. Some fans despise her for her treatment of her son, and view her as a cruel, cold, selfish creature, interested only in personal gain, a woman who will use anybody and do anything to get what she wants. Others admire her spirit and point out that she, as a (sometimes) single mother, had to do whatever was necessary to survive and succeed in a man’s world, where being a woman very often meant being close to a slave. They justify her behavior as her need to teach her child enough skills to not only survive, but prosper in such a world.
Personally, I think the truth lies somewhere in between. While I don’t see Maude as a vicious snake, bent on deliberately hurting her son every chance she got, I also don’t feel the need to justify her every action. She obviously hurt her son by leaving him with others when he was a child, and especially by taking away his saloon from him when he became a part of the Seven. But I never got the feeling that her goal was to destroy or punish him. Teach him a lesson, yes. Show him that they were meant to be on the road, doing what they did best, together. We know they ran cons before, and while their war over his saloon is ruthless, they both go at it with their teeth barred. I think she honestly felt that she was helping him see what his “true calling” was (“We’re business people, and we’re best at what we do. Don’t ever forget that.”.)
But what is the reason for such behavior? What would make a woman decide to leave her small child behind while she went off to gamble and make money? I think her words in “Witness” are the key. She tells him, I did the best I could. I’m sorry if that wasn’t good enough, and I can’t help but think she’s telling him the absolute, honest-to-God truth. Maybe she really did her best, and doesn’t know any better. Maybe she honestly thinks that the way she raised her son was the right way, because just maybe, that was the way she was raised herself.
She’s obviously a strong-willed, tough woman, who believes that money is the only important thing in life, and that one must do whatever is necessary to gain money. But a person doesn’t simply wake up one day and decide they will devote their life to pursuit of money. Just as Ezra learned from his mother that money is good, and trained to use various ways to get it, she had to learn it from somebody as well. We all learn things from our parents, and teach them to our children when we grow up. We raise them the way we were raised ourselves.
I think it’s possible that she was a gambler’s daughter, learning the trick of the trade which she later teaches Ezra. As a family trade, perhaps? I can’t help but compare her to little Olivia, who learned to spot a double deal in prison. Perhaps both of her parents were involved in the same trade, and got caught during one of their cons, so little Maude was born and grew up in prison? Or maybe she had a gambler husband, who taught her to play cards, and lived a high life with her, then died in a shootout or left her with a child she had to raise on her own? It’s always hard to go from riches to rags, and one of the worst curses in my country is, May you have everything, then lose all.
But what of Ezra? Why would a mother want to leave her child with others? Why didn’t Buck’s mother send him away? She was a working girl, and she obviously loved her son enough to keep him with her, in spite of what she did for a living. Was she justified in keeping him by her side? It definitely wasn’t an easy way to live, and he must have suffered being called names, maybe even beaten by some of the customers. I imagine she must have come across some who were like that man who beat Nora in “Working Girls”. In the end, she made her choice and kept Buck.
All in all, it’s a rotten choice, and maybe Maude loved her son enough to keep him away from the danger of her line of work. In a way, she was a “working girl” herself. I can also imagine that some of her marks didn’t take too kindly to being cheated, and had no problem exacting revenge against a woman. And while Buck’s mother probably stayed in one town, at least long enough for Buck to grow up, Maude most likely had to move from town to town, seeing as it was not very wise for a con man – or a con woman – to stay in one place for too long. What would have happened to a child in such a situation?
I’m sure Ezra would have preferred to be with his mother, no matter what, but her choice was made and her bitter experience would make her teach him the same lessons she had learned. That’s what made him into a man he became later on, and having that in mind, she must have done something right, even if it was only leaving some part of his upbringing to others. I’m sure that, if it were all up to her, his soft heart would have been a lot harder.
But then again, even she is not as hard as she would like us to think. I doubt it was money that made her help Ezra with a scam to find out who was behind Billy’s kidnapping, or made her treat Nathan’s father with kindness. Do you?
I think there may be hope for her yet.
We know she’d been married five times, but not which of those husbands was Ezra’s father, if any of them was. She elicits various and often contradicting emotions from the fans. There seem to be two views of Maude, which I will call the Viper and the Victim. Some fans despise her for her treatment of her son, and view her as a cruel, cold, selfish creature, interested only in personal gain, a woman who will use anybody and do anything to get what she wants. Others admire her spirit and point out that she, as a (sometimes) single mother, had to do whatever was necessary to survive and succeed in a man’s world, where being a woman very often meant being close to a slave. They justify her behavior as her need to teach her child enough skills to not only survive, but prosper in such a world.
Personally, I think the truth lies somewhere in between. While I don’t see Maude as a vicious snake, bent on deliberately hurting her son every chance she got, I also don’t feel the need to justify her every action. She obviously hurt her son by leaving him with others when he was a child, and especially by taking away his saloon from him when he became a part of the Seven. But I never got the feeling that her goal was to destroy or punish him. Teach him a lesson, yes. Show him that they were meant to be on the road, doing what they did best, together. We know they ran cons before, and while their war over his saloon is ruthless, they both go at it with their teeth barred. I think she honestly felt that she was helping him see what his “true calling” was (“We’re business people, and we’re best at what we do. Don’t ever forget that.”.)
But what is the reason for such behavior? What would make a woman decide to leave her small child behind while she went off to gamble and make money? I think her words in “Witness” are the key. She tells him, I did the best I could. I’m sorry if that wasn’t good enough, and I can’t help but think she’s telling him the absolute, honest-to-God truth. Maybe she really did her best, and doesn’t know any better. Maybe she honestly thinks that the way she raised her son was the right way, because just maybe, that was the way she was raised herself.
She’s obviously a strong-willed, tough woman, who believes that money is the only important thing in life, and that one must do whatever is necessary to gain money. But a person doesn’t simply wake up one day and decide they will devote their life to pursuit of money. Just as Ezra learned from his mother that money is good, and trained to use various ways to get it, she had to learn it from somebody as well. We all learn things from our parents, and teach them to our children when we grow up. We raise them the way we were raised ourselves.
I think it’s possible that she was a gambler’s daughter, learning the trick of the trade which she later teaches Ezra. As a family trade, perhaps? I can’t help but compare her to little Olivia, who learned to spot a double deal in prison. Perhaps both of her parents were involved in the same trade, and got caught during one of their cons, so little Maude was born and grew up in prison? Or maybe she had a gambler husband, who taught her to play cards, and lived a high life with her, then died in a shootout or left her with a child she had to raise on her own? It’s always hard to go from riches to rags, and one of the worst curses in my country is, May you have everything, then lose all.
But what of Ezra? Why would a mother want to leave her child with others? Why didn’t Buck’s mother send him away? She was a working girl, and she obviously loved her son enough to keep him with her, in spite of what she did for a living. Was she justified in keeping him by her side? It definitely wasn’t an easy way to live, and he must have suffered being called names, maybe even beaten by some of the customers. I imagine she must have come across some who were like that man who beat Nora in “Working Girls”. In the end, she made her choice and kept Buck.
All in all, it’s a rotten choice, and maybe Maude loved her son enough to keep him away from the danger of her line of work. In a way, she was a “working girl” herself. I can also imagine that some of her marks didn’t take too kindly to being cheated, and had no problem exacting revenge against a woman. And while Buck’s mother probably stayed in one town, at least long enough for Buck to grow up, Maude most likely had to move from town to town, seeing as it was not very wise for a con man – or a con woman – to stay in one place for too long. What would have happened to a child in such a situation?
I’m sure Ezra would have preferred to be with his mother, no matter what, but her choice was made and her bitter experience would make her teach him the same lessons she had learned. That’s what made him into a man he became later on, and having that in mind, she must have done something right, even if it was only leaving some part of his upbringing to others. I’m sure that, if it were all up to her, his soft heart would have been a lot harder.
But then again, even she is not as hard as she would like us to think. I doubt it was money that made her help Ezra with a scam to find out who was behind Billy’s kidnapping, or made her treat Nathan’s father with kindness. Do you?
I think there may be hope for her yet.
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(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-13 09:53 pm (UTC)As for Maude, it was very interesting to read your post about her. I especially liked where you used parts of the eps to show why you think about her as you do. I fully agree with you on her and especially on her truly doing the best she could in a time where it was hard to be a woman alone. The best proof of that for me is that, despite the hurt inside Ezra when it comes to his mother he also clearly loves her a lot. Wolfandboar already mentioned the fact he writes her for instance. And he does show admiration at the end of the eps for her. Personally I love the ambiguity of their relationship, it makes it so much more real.
As for her being able to leave Ezra with relatives, I don't think it was all that strange in those days. Mary does it too; she has Billy living with his grandparents most of the time. A part of the reason that she does this isn't only that she's on her own in making a living (although she could move in with the Travis' if she wanted and the fact she doesn't is another thing that makes her atypical for those times I think), but also to keep her son safe, since Four Corners isn't a safe place to live, especially not when the series starts. I think that's a very plausible part of Maude's reason to leave Ezra behind when he was little, she's not exactly in the safest business there is after all, even if she does it with such flair.
Like you I too believe it very plausible that being a con is the family trade and Maude probably learned it from her parents. It's in the way she says "we're business people and we're the best at what we do" at Ezra. I always thought she meant more than Ezra and herself, that she meant a broader 'we'. In those days it was very common that members of a family all went into the same trade.
As for Buck's mother not leaving Buck with relatives, I think the sad truth here might very well be that she probably, if she still had relatives, was considered a disgrace together with 'that bastard of a son of hers'. So she probably couldn't even leave him elsewhere, in a safer environment, even if she wanted to. But seeing the way Buck talks about her and the kind man he has become it's clear she did the best she could and that her best must have been a whole lot!
I'm always intrigued by where the Seven come from, since mostly it's only bits and peaces we know, except with Ezra and Nathan. With them things are pretty clear. And with Josiah we know a lot as well, even if not everything like if his mother was around or not when he and Hannah traveled with their father. Chris is the only one we truly don't know anything about; al we know about him is from later on.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-22 02:54 pm (UTC)I love the ambiguity of their relationship as well, and I think that the writers were very realistic in the way it was portrayed. I very much doubt that children and their mothers ALWAYS agree on everything. Even though I love my mother, there were times when we fought, had our misunderstandings, but made up too. It's all a part of the growing up process, learning to stand up for yourself and be your own person. There's a lot in Maude to admire, and Ezra is well aware of that; let's not forget that this is a woman who obviously succeeded living in a man's world under her own terms, no matter how she got there. That makes her somebody to respect, by all means.
As far as Buck and his mother are concerned, that would be mine conclusion too. Even today, and especially in more patriarchal parts of the world, girls who have children out of wedlock are shunned or at the very least, ridiculed. Their children don't have it easy either; they are maybe not treated badly by relatives, but there's nothing more cruel than when other children pick up that you're different from the conversations of adults. I suspect young Buck didn't have it easy at all. His mother (and other working girls) was probably the only one to talk to and turn to when he was hurt by the actions of others. It makes his devotion to his mother - and women - all the more poignant.
Now, it would have been great to find out more about the others, but I guess it wasn't meant to be. That's what fic is for!
Thanks for participating, I loved your conclusions as well.