Summary of The Mother of a Traitor

Maxim Gorky's story "The Mother of a Traitor" is about Monna Marianna, an old woman whose son has betrayed his native city to its enemies.

The city is under siege by an enemy force, and the people learn that its leader is their own countryman, the son of Monna Marianna. In fear and anger they turn against his mother. When she appears in the street, the people whisper "Is it she?" and "It is she", and they treat her with scorn and hatred. She walks among them proudly, without a word of defence.

Monna Marianna is torn between her love as a mother and her duty to the city. She knows that her son will bring ruin and death to the people if he is not stopped. She decides that the safety of the city is more important than the life of her son. She goes out of the city to the enemy camp and meets him. He speaks proudly of his ambition and of destroying the city. That night, while he sleeps with his head on her knees, she stabs him to death with her own hand, freeing the city from its danger.

The story ends with her sacrifice. She tells the enemy soldiers that as a citizen she has done what she could for her country, but as a mother she will stay with her son. Then she plunges the same knife into her own heart. She has saved her city at the cost of her son's life and her own.

Theme

The story shows that love of country can demand the hardest sacrifice. It condemns treason and praises courage, duty and moral strength, and it warns against judging a person by the crime of a relative.