Motherhood - Mullumbimby and Pride and Prejudice

Lucashenko’s critically acclaimed book Mullumbimby begins with a reference to the iconic opening quote from Austen’s Pride and Prejudice: “it is a truth universally acknowledged …” There are many core differences between these two books; one a regency-era English text centering on the lives of the upper class, the other a contemporary Indigenous-Australian text about a Goorie single mother running her farm and getting unwillingly caught up in local politics and a native title land dispute. There are also core similarities: both texts explore themes of motherhood, class, and financial strain in different but equally humorous and complex ways.

In both cases, it can be said that this opening line reflects the underlying theme of motherhood. In Pride and Prejudice, the mother is desperate to see her daughters married. In Mullumbimby, Jo just wants her daughter to stop being a pain in the neck by drawing all over her cousins skin with a Nikko pen.

Mrs Bennet is in many ways a caricature of an embarrassing  parent to her gently bred daughters. Loud, vulgar, and rude, with a selfish streak a mile wide. While her desire to see her children settled is in many ways reasonable when considering the context, it quickly becomes clear that this goal overtakes any concerns about her children’s happiness and well-being. She puts Jane in danger, she threatens to disown Lizzie over refusing Mr Collins, and she celebrates the marriage of her favourite child to a man who lead her into social ruin. For children of narcissists, the closing lines of Pride and Prejudice represent absolute freedom: those who once ran your life are now a minor irritation, instead you now have the power to surround yourself with  those loved-ones who treat you with mutual respect.

Jo is not a narcissist, but on a superficial level she shares some of Mrs Bennet’s struggles. Mrs Bennet wants to see her daughters married in a world where marriage is their only chance at security and social standing. Jo, on the other hand, wants her and her daughter to reclaim part of their rightful land, giving her daughter share in something of deep on-going significance.  However, to do this she must go directly against her daughters’ current wishes. The pit-falls of parenting are explored throughout the book, giving life to a complex and realistic mother-daughter relationship that stays a strong, constant backdrop to all the events that unfold.

Mrs Bennet’s love is conditional, Jo’s love for her daughter is a strong and constant force. It allows her to become “as massive as a mountain, as heavy and immovable as Chincogan or Bottlebrush.” The love and protection she feels for her  and daughter is as much a part of her cultural heritage as the land she has reclaimed. Mrs Bennet and Jo both seemingly have goals that tie directly into building fulfilling lives for their children, but only in Jo’s case is this true. She has unconditional love and a protective drive where Mrs Bennet only has selfishness.

Despite this, Ellen still gets hurt. This is a moment of painful realism, confronting Jo again with the sad truth that you can’t always protect your children. Sometimes you’ll do everything you can to protect your daughter, and the fear will creep up behind you and get her anyway. Sometimes the choices you make for your family will hurt them in the short term, and you just have to hope that they’ll grow to appreciate it. These things are harder to face when you don’t just blame the people around you for not falling in line with your vision, but Jo’s success as a mother lies in her ability to see people as they are, herself and Ellen included.

 Mullumbimby ends with a second and final reference to that iconic opening line. While Pride and Prejudice ends with the tacit acknowledgement that Elizabeth’s mother is someone she’ll always be a little ashamed of, Mullumbimby’s final thoughts on motherhood are very different.

It is a fact universally acknowledged … that a teenager armed with a Nikko pen is a wonder to behold, a precious, precious thing that we all must keep close to our hearts, and protect by any means necessary.

It’s clear that through every tough decision, argument, and upheaval, Jo will always be proud of Ellen.