Disconnect and Poverty in Mann's Little Brother
A Critical Analysis of a Classic, English Short Story
The opening of Mary Mann’s “Little Brother” refers to Mrs Hodd by her title and name, which indicates she exists solely in relation to her husband and her duties as a wife and mother. Indeed, the narrator and the parish nurse, both unnamed, speak of her only as a mother and only in the beginning of her conversation.
A Placement of Children
‘All is well over!’ she said. ‘Mrs Hodd going on nicely as can be expected.’ Their exchange turns briefly towards the welfare of the children, with the nurse commenting on the beauty of the child before the narrator responds with ‘It’s more than can be said of the other twelve.’
This, along with further comments about their clothing and hair, reflect the parenting skills and priorities of the Hodds. To avoid interpreting these comments as a sign of the times and lower class poverty alone, the narrator and the nurse shift the conversation rapidly to Mr Hodd, effectively bookending their discussion of the well-being of the children between both of the parents. In their conversation, the children are literally in the middle of Mr and Mrs Hodd, creating the schism between the mother and the father.
Mr Hodd and His Son Chopping Turnips
Mr Hodd’s work may have been the intermediary cause of not seeing his wife, but the end reasoning for missing his child’s birth is that he was working for the good of the other children, even going so far as to sleep in the turnip-house. If the children were never born, he could have seen his wife and child.
This isn’t the first instance of this happening, either, as the nurse informs us ‘. . . You’ll find him, if you go through the farm-yard. In the turnip-house. He slept there, last night; did not come home at all. He always clears out on these occasions.’ Before that, she tells us that his absence is approved of by Mrs Hodd.
When the narrator does reach Mr Hodd, we receive a lengthy paragraph depicting his appearance and, through it, his state of mind. A small boy (the eldest of the Hodd children) is mentioned within the first sentence and then not mentioned again for the entire paragraph, but his presence lingers throughout the description of Mr Hodd in a similar manner that Mrs Hodd was left to drift over the earlier discussion about the Hodd children.
The turnip slicing scene reveals both the physical and mental disconnection between Mr and Mrs Hodd by way of their children. The narrator starts by presenting the news to Mr Hodd as a sort of “I hear . . .” tidbit, to which Hodd tersely replies “So they tell me.” At the mention of his wife, Mr Hodd is short with his response before going silent upon her next mention.
The slicing of the turnips is significant as a symbol of his children: the literal harvest of his labor. With the boy in the background helping and the turnips being sliced up, we get to see two different layers of what keeps him from his wife: the problem (his offspring) and the representation of the problem (the turnips). When Mr Hodd is silent, the narrator comments to the reader on the vigor with which Mr Hodd works, even snubbing Mrs Hodd when not in her company.
Too Many Children
Mr Hodd claims that his wife has had too many children, which displaces the blame, yes, but really goes to show a loss or lack of love in their life together. When passing through the kitchen to see Mrs Hodd in her bedroom, the narrator sees two of the younger Hodd children playing with a battered “doll” (their dead baby brother). This works as foreshadowing for the grand realization of it being their little brother, but also as another way of putting children in the middle of Mr and Mrs Hodd, both on the page and the path between them.
The last mention of Mr Hodd is made by Mrs Hodd, making a comment with a similar effect as Mr Hodd’s proclamation that his wife has birthed him too many children. When she states that Mr Hodd “han’t a mother’s heart,” it shows the same loss or lack of love in their relationship, though it shows it in a more motherly way. That statement severs that aspect of the conversation with the narrator, and they move on to a conversation about the remainder of the kids, with the narrator even speaking their number (twelve). The children, as a lot, as the number twelve, and as a faceless group, essentially cut off a discussion about Mr and Mrs Hodd, coming between them on the page yet again.
A short section that involves neither Mr Hodd nor Mrs Hodd follows, and within that scene we discover that the children were playing not with a doll, but their stillborn baby brother. Here, we notice not the parents, but the lack of parents. When the narrator questions Mrs Hodd, she dismisses the concerns. She has the final words of the story, saying that the kids hadn’t done any harm to their little brother, which leads to both a sense of irresponsibility and perhaps even a tinge of contempt. The fact that she speaks last in the story about her children puts the emphasis not on the children, but their source.
A Lack of Interaction
The layout of the story, while linear, is notable for having no scene in which Mr and Mrs Hodd interact. They mention each other and are questioned by the narrator about the other, but they never meet face to face. However, the one thing present with each of them is the one thing they share and the one thing that stands between them: the children.
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