The relationship between the mother and son in ‘News of the Engagement’ is also very open and nothing is kept from each other. The son discusses, “She knew all my friends by name.” This shows that they never kept anything from each other. However it also shows that the mother was protective, as she knew of everybody that her son mixed with, inferring that as a mother she felt it was important that she protected her son.
The relationship between the mother and son from the outside seems perfect and faultless. However it really is not like that. Even though the mother and son think that they know everything about each other they really do not. The son notes, “I was all that my mother had.” This shows that the son felt that all his mother had was him and that she had no other feeling for anybody else, but really she did. He did not believe that she would be able to love somebody ever again, because of what she had been through in the past, but he forgot that she was also a human who could have feelings for other people as well. It shows that he is self-centred and unconcerned with his mother’s feelings. The son declares, “I liked Mr Nixon, but I was not too well pleased by this information, for I wanted to talk confidentially to my mother.” This is a great example of the son being completely self-centred. The thought that his mum may have had something to tell him important did not even cross his mind.
The love between the mother and son is very clear in ‘News of the Engagement.’ The son states, “I said nothing about my own engagement that night. I had never thought of my mother as a woman with a future. I had never realised that she was desirable, and that a man might desire her and that her lonely existence in that house was not all that she had the right to demand from life.” This shows that even though the son is selfish and self-centred and did not believe, up until now, that his mother had a life to live, he still does not mention anything about his engagement. This is because he would rather let his mother be the woman of the moment, instead of him spoiling it with his news. This shows the great love he has for his mother.
The tone of ‘The Half Brothers’ is completely different to the one of ‘News of the Engagement.’ It is very sad, regretful, remorseful and confessional. The little sister dies very early in the story, which basically sets the tone for the rest of the story.
The relationship between the mother and the son was one of true love. The son does not really know his mother, because she died so early in his life but it is clear that there is a very loving feeling between them.
We know that the love between the son and the mother is so great, because he gives up his life so that he can see her. This also shows the strong bond between the mother and son and their his willingness to do anything in his power to see his mother. One night Gregory's half brother does not return from an errand of his father's and Gregory goes out onto the moors to find him. He does so and gives up his own life in order to save his half brother. All this was done out of love for his mother and brother.
Gregory was thought to be the idiot in his family and his mother was the only person who loved him. This is something that brought him and his mother even closer, because he was not liked by anybody else apart from his mother and Adam the shepherd, however Adam the shepherd was not someone he could turn to in a serious crisis. When his mother died his love grew even more towards his mother.
Overall I feel that the two short stories have some similarities in the way the author writes about the theme of mothers and sons, but there are also many differences between them both. In ‘News of the Engagement’ the author portrays the theme of mother and sons with a slight sense of humour and in ‘The Half Brothers’ the author portrays the theme of mothers and sons on a sad and more serious note. The tones of the two stories are also very different, because ‘News of the Engagement’ has a lighthearted tone, whereas ‘The Half Brothers’ has a sombre melancholy and remorseful tone. They both show the tremendous love between the mothers and sons, which is something that can be recognised between nearly every mother and son. In both of the short stories the mothers are widows and get married again. However in ‘News of the Engagement’ the mother marries a man out of free will and in ‘The Half Brothers’ the mother is forced into marriage, because of her poor financial situation. This would have affected the sons in different ways. The son in ‘News of the Engagement’ was brought up by his mother and the son in ‘The Half Brothers’ was brought up by his father. Overall the two short stories do deal with the theme of mothers and sons, but mainly in very different ways.
