The Mother of a Traitor: Monna Marinna

In Maxim Gorky's story "The Mother of a Traitor", Monna Marianna is shown as a woman who is loyal both to her son and to her city. When these duties conflict, she first fulfils her duty to the city and then her duty as a mother, and so shows the highest qualities of both.

As an ideal citizen

• She put the safety of the people above her family ties. Her son had become a traitor and was leading the enemy against his native city, and she was ready to sacrifice her only son so that the city and its people might be saved.
• She faced the hostility and suspicion of the townspeople, who called her the mother of a traitor, with courage and dignity. She did not hide or flee.
• At great personal risk she left the city and went to the enemy camp to meet her son.
• While he slept with his head on her lap, she stabbed him to death, removing the danger to the city. As she said, "As a citizen I have done for my country all I could."
• She acted without seeking praise or reward.

As an ideal mother

• She loved her son and had brought him up with care and hope.
• She felt his betrayal as her own sorrow and shame. She did not excuse or defend his crime out of blind love.
• She believed a mother is responsible for what her son becomes, so she felt that she herself must stop him.
• She did not abandon him even in death. Saying "as a mother I remain with my son", she killed herself with the same knife. Her act came not from hatred but from a mother's grief and love.

Her action shows that love for one's country may call for a painful sacrifice. In Monna Marianna, motherhood and citizenship are joined by moral courage.