Mother! Oh God, mother! Blood! Blood! (Psycho)

Just this week, I have begun to read Winesburg, Oho, a book that seems to bring endless fascination to me. Although it does not have a gripping plot, the novel is so shrouded in mystery the reader can never become bored. Every sentence presents a new enigma, something that the reader must not only interpret but also connect to the rest of the novel. The story is a labyrinth; although it appears there are many monstrous truths in the middle of the maze, not just one ugly giant. I could spend hours discussing the numerous connections I have found in just the five chapters I have read; however, because I have not finished the novel, I feel I do not know the true depth and meaning of each of these connections. Instead, let’s focus on an allusion in the chapter titled “Mother” that, as Foster in How to Read Literature Like a Professor promised, has contributed significantly to my overall understanding of the story.
“Mother,” the story of the very ill mother of Wing Biddlebaum’s friend George Willard, seems to share many qualities with the ever-popular Alfred Hitchcock movie “Psycho" (which in turn was based on the 1959 novel Psycho by Robert Bloch). In case you’re unfamiliar with the horror film, it is a black-and-white classic about a disillusioned hotel keeper who has an extremely odd relationship with his mother. A series of murders plague his hotel, and many of the guests fear that his mother is the psychopath behind the horrid events. It isn’t until the close of the movie where everyone realizes that his mother is actually dead; however, because he is the one that murdered her, he has developed a split personality and believes his mother is still alive.
Similar to the movie, “Mother” takes place in a run-down hotel that was “unprofitable and forever on the edge of failure.” (p. 23) The mother, although alive in the book, seems to take on many characteristics of a corpse, thus baring many similarities to the dead mother in Psycho. Author Sherwood Anderson describes her as a “tall, ghostly figure” (p. 23) who had hands that are “white and bloodless,” (p.26) and she always appear to be sitting “listlessly.” (p. 23) Also, bearing a chilling resemblance to Psycho, Willard’s mother’s life seems dependent on that of her son. Just as the hotelkeeper’s mother only survives in his mind, Willard’s mother only survives for the sake of her son. She even says that she “‘will come back’” (p. 25) to save her son from failure, and later, on page 28, she experiences renewed, even murderous strength, when she senses that her son is in danger. She resolves on page 30 to kill her own husband in the name of her son. Thus, as in Psycho, this mother becomes murderous due to the influence of her son. In Psycho the son is the killer; however, it is the dominance of his mother that forces him to this end, and in Winesburg Ohio, it is the mother’s obsession with her son that almost forces her to murder. However, as if sensing that her son will leave her, “the strength that had been as a miracle in her body left.” (p. 32) She is unable to kill her husband because of a sudden bout of weakness. Shortly after she loses all strength, readers learn of her son’s departure. Similar to Psycho’s storyline, Willard’s mother can only live through him, and when he leaves, she loses her strength.
The similarities –murder, obsession, protectiveness—between Psycho and “Mother” provide a chilling backdrop to the chapter’s storyline. Not only does it accentuate the “grotesque” nature of the chapter’s events, it also highlights the extremely intimate relationship between Willard and his mother. Although it never seems to turn sexual, her obsession with her son borders on creepiness, and it makes readers wonder, what truth destroyed Willard’s mother?