Mother’ is the immortal classic of Maxim Gorky, one of the world’s best-loved writers. It is the story of the radicalization of an uneducated woman. From her dull peasant existence into active participation in her people’s struggle for justice. Through her work she frees herself from the cowed state into which she has been beaten and her simple motherly concern for her son becomes a motherly concern for all oppressed. The book uses simple style to make it an easy read while slowly adding thicker and thicker layers of propaganda and pro Marxist Communist theory. ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Maksim Gorky was a Soviet author and founder of the socialist realism literary method. He was also a political activist who spent several lengthy stays in Capri and Italy. Gorky traveled throughout his native land and at one point became friends with Lenin. His travels overwhelmed him with the vastness and beauty of his country and they also made him sharply aware of the ignorance and poverty of its people. This novel tells the story of the common proletariat who protested against the czar and the capitalists which eventually led to the October Revolution. Pelageya is the wife on a factory worker who ignores the political upheaval in her country in favor of caring for her personal life. She represents hundreds of workers who are concerned with living their lives. Her son Pavel takes a different path and joins the revolution inspiring many Russians who were living under a capitalistic society in Russia. Gorky saw the
mother country
as supporting her children as they fought for their rights.