The Good Corn - review.

Mrs. Mortimer is a stereotypical middle aged married woman with one passion, to have a baby.  “It was a failure in her living.  It was like a hen that did not lay eggs or a cow that was sterile.”  This is how Mrs. Mortimer looked upon life without a child.  She felt that there was no point in existence and that her husband Joe Mortimer should find someone else so Mr. Mortimer took her to a doctor who told them to move away from the area and hire a young female to help Mr. Mortimer with the hens and kitchen and told them to grow corn.  Throughout most of the story we feel the same way about her because her character doesn’t changed and she is always seen as a kind natured middle aged woman who would do anything for a child for her to take care of, even if it wasn’t her own.

“Don’t come near me. I’m no good to you.  You should have found someone else, not me.”  This one sentence that Mrs. Mortimer said proved that she was mentally ill and showed that she was isolating Mr. Mortimer which led him to cheat on Mrs. Mortimer with the hired young female named Elsie.  Elsie was shown as being the quiet and submissive type and we feel that she doesn’t convey her feelings much and we think of her as a good person who could be taken advantage of easily.  That would be the readers’ first impression of her because when she came for the interview her mother was answering all the questions for her and her mother would ask straight forward questions to Elsie like “You want to work in the fresh air don’t you, Elsie?”  This isn’t the impression we keep for Elsie the whole way through the story though, as Elsie’s first impression seems to change.  The main shock that is first encountered is that Elsie has had a baby before coming into the Mortimer family, but not only has she had a baby but she gave it away and has no feelings for it.  To Mrs. Mortimer this is in a way insulting because all Mrs. Mortimer really wants in life is to have a baby.  The second incident that changes how we portray Elsie is that she went along with Joe Mortimer flirting with her and coming onto her knowing the fact that he was married.  To most people today this behaviour is unacceptable and females shouldn’t agree to doing something with males, they should always be submissive but Elsie is just the reverse for a stereotypical female.  

If you were married and your husband cheats on you and gets w a young female that you are really close to and also your worker pregnant, generally you wouldn’t forgive him but Mrs. Mortimer is different.  She gives the impression of being very forgiving and caring, and still after that you would still think that she wouldn’t forgive her husband Mr. Mortimer for sleeping and getting Elsie pregnant.  Strangely enough she accepts that Mr. Mortimer cheated on her but she also accepts to have Elsie’s baby and care for it, one to call her own.  In a way this is acceptable because all Mr. Mortimer has ever wanted throughout her middle aged years is a baby, although in society back then, it was very unacceptable and rude to just give away your baby as it is a treasure to females.  These days it would be fine though because there are adoption centres and orphanages and other child caring places.  All the characters in The Good Corn either give out the stereotype of their character or the reverse.

Our values and beliefs change our attitude to certain people in the world.  What you believe is how you act.  When you read the text of The Good Corn, it is up to you to feel how you feel about certain characters.  For example if you were religious you would think what Elsie has done is offensive but if you didn’t believe in religion at all you would have nothing against what Elsie has done.  Therefore, it is very difficult to explain attitudes towards Mr. Mortimer, Mrs. Mortimer and Elsie because different people who read the text will interpret it in their own way.