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What makes a literary mother “the worst”?
The phrase is a judgment, not a literary category or clinical description. These nominations do not establish a ranking or a formal vote count. They bring together very different conduct: direct physical or sexual abuse, emotional cruelty, neglect, abandonment, coercive control, and participation in an oppressive system. Treating all of these as interchangeable would erase important differences in severity, agency, and context.
Perspective matters, too. Some stories are filtered through a child or another character; others give readers a more complicated view of a mother’s circumstances. A useful comparison asks what harm is done, what the text reveals about the character’s choices and constraints, and how reliable or limited the viewpoint may be.
Readers’ candidates and the harms they represent
Mary in Sapphire’s Push
Freeman-Greene names Mary as her choice. The article describes her as violent and jealous and says she participates with her husband in sexually abusing their teenage daughter, Precious. This is the clearest case in the list of direct, severe harm to a child. Read the exact-title article on Scroll.in.
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May Callaghan in Amy Witting’s I for Isobel
May directs anger particularly at her bookish younger daughter, Isobel. The article points to denial and verbal cruelty, showing how sustained emotional harm can shape a child’s experience even when it differs from the direct physical and sexual abuse attributed to Mary.
The mother in Elfriede Jelinek’s The Piano Teacher
A reader describes Erika Kohut’s mother as controlling her adult daughter’s movements, body, and finances. The resulting relationship is marked by surveillance and coercion rather than care that allows an adult child autonomy.
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The unnamed mother in Elizabeth Harrower’s The Watch Tower
A contributor cites the mother’s abandonment of her daughters, leaving them vulnerable to Felix Shaw. The same contributor raises a question about judgment: mothers may be condemned more harshly than fathers for abandonment. That observation is a reason to examine the standards being applied, not a claim that the mother’s conduct has no consequences.
Daisy Buchanan in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby
A reader judges Daisy as neglectful and morally compromised in relation to her daughter, Pammy, and the events involving Tom and Myrtle. This is that reader’s interpretation, not a definitive account shared by every reader or established by a poll.
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Serena Joy Waterford in Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale and The Testaments
One contributor makes a deliberately controversial choice, arguing that Serena participates in a system that treats children as prizes and damages the idea of compassionate care. The contributor also acknowledges a key qualification: the novels do not show Serena mothering directly. This nomination is about complicity in a system, not a straightforward account of her parenting.
Nina in Kate Kruimink’s Heartsease
A daughter’s remembered slights and the painful absence of her dead mother inform this selection. The contributor calls a dead mother “the worst,” a personal expression of grief and perspective—not a moral verdict on someone who can no longer act.
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Helen in Richard Yates’s “Oh Joseph, I’m so tired”
The article connects the fictional mother to Yates’s difficult relationship with his own mother. Helen is described as self-absorbed and bigoted, but also fragile; she creates a temporary imaginative world for her children. Those conflicting qualities resist a one-word judgment.
Maggie in Jennifer Down’s Bodies of Light
One contributor resists naming a “worst” mother and instead points to Maggie as a complex, flawed character shaped by addiction, grief, and abuse. The article says three of Maggie’s babies die in her care. That devastating outcome matters, but the contributor’s emphasis on circumstance cautions against flattening her into a simple villain.
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Mrs Bannerman in Catriona Ward’s The Last House on Needless Street
A reader cites Mrs Bannerman’s abuse of her son and the pleasure she takes in hurting him. The novel’s larger account is described as ambiguous, so the nomination should be read with that qualification rather than as a complete summary of the book’s meaning.
John Cleese’s mother in So, Anyway …
The exact-title article also includes Cleese’s negative portrayal of his mother in his autobiography. This is a real-life memoir subject, not a fictional character, so it belongs only in a broad list of mothers in literature—not in a comparison restricted to fictional mothers.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Other lists offer examples, not a consensus
Lists published by other outlets add familiar candidates, but they are curated selections rather than evidence of an agreed winner. The Guardian’s 2014 survey mentions Mrs Bennet in Pride and Prejudice, the mother in The Illustrated Mum, Mrs Wormwood in Matilda, and the controlling mother in The Manchurian Candidate. It also notes how often these accounts are told from a child’s perspective. The Guardian’s literary litany.
Penguin Random House’s 2016 list includes Mary in Precious, Queen Gertrude in Hamlet, Beth Jarrett in Ordinary People, Dori Goldin in More Than It Hurts You, Janice Angstrom in Rabbit, Run, Margaret White in Carrie, Medea in Christa Wolf’s Medea, Addie Bundren in As I Lay Dying, Charlotte Haze in Lolita, and Cathy Ames in East of Eden. See Penguin Random House’s list.
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Rabbit, Run is a useful reminder to question viewpoint: Publishers Weekly notes that the novel is told from Rabbit’s perspective and cautions readers to examine his judgment of Janice. Its list also names Eleanor Melrose, Joan Crawford as presented in Mommie Dearest, Dori Goldin, and the stepmother in “Hansel and Gretel.” See Publishers Weekly’s list. Chicago Public Library’s quiz likewise includes Mrs Bennet, Medea in Euripides’ play, and Margaret White. Try the Chicago Public Library quiz.
How to compare the candidates fairly
- Identify the harm. Distinguish direct abuse from emotional cruelty, neglect, abandonment, coercion, or complicity in a harmful system.
- Consider agency and context. Ask what the character chooses, what constrains her, and what the story says about the surrounding circumstances.
- Check the viewpoint. A child’s memory, another character’s judgment, or a mother’s own account can each reveal some things and obscure others.
- Define the scope. Decide whether the comparison includes fictional mothers only, or also stepmothers, mythic figures, short stories, children’s books, and memoir subjects.
- Look for complexity and consequences. Consider what happens to the child and whether the text allows room for contradiction, remorse, or change.
These are practical comparison questions, not a scoring system. Readers can disagree productively by saying whether they weigh direct harm, neglect, complicity, or betrayal most heavily.
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