Daisy, Dear

The next times we see Mrs Mum:

She’s lashing out at Sister for accusing a powerful man

It’s implied through dialogue that Mrs Mum hasn’t been around much

She says to the Reverend: “You have no idea how hard things were before…!”

Her home has possibly developed visible cobwebs (but it’s also Halloween, so who knows, really)

The implication: Mrs Mum, former housewife, had to work a job to keep them afloat. And whatever she was doing, it wasn’t enough.

They needed a man in the house.

However the wedding came about, this was undoubtedly its origin: survival.

But somewhere along the way, Mrs Mum forgot why she’d been fighting in the first place. She forgot why she’d fought for her late husband to deny the Reverend his promotion money. She forgot why she’d worked so hard over the past three years. She forgot the reason she’d decided to re-marry in the first place.

At some point, Mrs Mum forgot about her daughters’ survival. She lost herself in her own.

Which is why she followed along with the Reverend’s word about the twins’ fate, despite what she’d witnessed moments beforehand. She forgot that she was supposed to be protecting her daughters, not just herself.

She became so obsessed with keeping up the family’s appearance that she forgot to keep the family alive.

And then, she seemingly repressed what had really happened from her mind (perhaps like her grandson one day might repress his mother’s sickness), going so far as to blame the twins for their own deaths.

(And many years later, her eldest would grow obsessed with protecting her own children. The same strong will, the same stubbornness — and eventually, without her even realising, she’d hurt one of her own children with that addiction to survival too.)

((I’m referring to the RHRN coffin + secret illness misunderstanding btw, in case it wasn’t obvious.))

Side note:

While writing this, I of course had to consider another angle: the angle where Mrs Mum never cared for her family at all, and it was all just her craving security.

She’d have married in the 40s. Probably, it was her best option: live with her parents forever (they may have forbid it), find her own job (in the 40s), or find a man to support her.

It’s entirely possible that Mr Dad was chosen not out of love or passion, but out of necessity. Mrs Mum needed a husband, and he seemed suitable and willing.

And this would be entirely understandable. But it also casts a colder, more clinical angle on the relationship, as well as Mrs Mum herself.

Because if she married to survive, then she probably also had the children to survive. If she had the children to survive, then she may never have grown to love them, as from her perspective, they were mere extensions of her leash, so to speak. Consequences of a choice she had to make for her own sake. Things she had to raise in order to keep herself safe.

And if she didn’t love the children, then who’s to say she didn’t marry the Reverend (and subsequently side with him) purely for her own sake? That the children’s safety only factored in her decisions where her reputation was concerned?

I considered this.

In the end? I don’t think it’s entirely true… but I also can’t deny it could well be somewhat true.

The reason I don’t think it’s entirely true is because Mrs Mum does show some care towards the girls.

She is very offended and even sheds a tear when the Reverend says the Devil is in her girls

“Sometimes I wonder if it was worth all this…”

She persuades the enraged Reverend to reverse the Halloween ban he’d just declared (even if it is just for this year)

Also…

Sister missed her.

Of course, it’s entirely possible to miss an objectively evil mother. Perhaps what Sister really misses is a simpler time.

I still think it’s important to note.