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Post by whisper on May 25, 2021 12:24:21 GMT -5
1) Her fanatical opposition to anyone in her family serving in the military. 2) Her shrill obsession with protecting the families reputation from even the most innocuous things. 3) Her forcing the children to memorize Bible verses as a punishment which would've made them associate reading the Bible with punishment. For starters. Crikey! I wish my mum had been that soft, I'd have got a whack around the head.
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Post by JessicaGirlSpy on May 25, 2021 15:09:15 GMT -5
1) Her fanatical opposition to anyone in her family serving in the military. 2) Her shrill obsession with protecting the families reputation from even the most innocuous things. 3) Her forcing the children to memorize Bible verses as a punishment which would've made them associate reading the Bible with punishment. For starters. You made some valid points but, but I respectfully disagree. I think Mrs Olesen from Little House on the Prairie was far far worse tv mum than Olivia ever was.
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Post by Easton on May 25, 2021 17:43:43 GMT -5
1) Her fanatical opposition to anyone in her family serving in the military. 2) Her shrill obsession with protecting the families reputation from even the most innocuous things. 3) Her forcing the children to memorize Bible verses as a punishment which would've made them associate reading the Bible with punishment. For starters. Re #1 - I can understand Olivia's perspective. Firstly, the boys were volunteering. I'm not sure is John and Ben volunteered or if they were drafted, but Olivia experienced 2 men going and only 1 coming back. Surely she saw what effect that had on Zeb and Esther and the notion in her head that it could just as easily have been John who was buried in Europe. She didn't want to face what Zeb, Esther, and John went through.
Re #2 - Olivia was protective of the family's reputation but only in regards to her Christianity. She wasn't as concerned about her reputation as she was about her religion. Even then, it was rather selective. Remember how she flip-flopped with James Trevis Clark, the boxer, when she heard him preaching as she was preparing to toss him out on his ear. All of a sudden, pugilism wasn't as damaging to her reputation anymore. If anything, she used the boxing match to boost it.
Re #3 - It wasn't shown, but I'm sure there was daily Bible reading for all the kids - either reading it themselves or having someone read to them. As far as I know, religion preceded even The Homecoming, and the rules were the same in the movie as they were in the series. Learning Bible verses was a punishment, not a means to turn them away from reading the Bible, and the transgressor was the only one who was punished.
If anything, she was a worse mother when she selfishly spent time away from the rest of the family when John got pneumonia and insisted on breaking the hospital rules by staying with him. She broke those rules a few times throughout the series.
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Post by dayton3 on May 26, 2021 8:07:44 GMT -5
1) Her fanatical opposition to anyone in her family serving in the military. 2) Her shrill obsession with protecting the families reputation from even the most innocuous things. 3) Her forcing the children to memorize Bible verses as a punishment which would've made them associate reading the Bible with punishment. For starters. You made some valid points but, but I respectfully disagree. I think Mrs Olesen from Little House on the Prairie was far far worse tv mum than Olivia ever was. Granted you are correct. But the purpose of Mrs. Olson in shows like Little House on the Prairie was to be a negative counterpoint to characters like Caroline Ingalls in the show.
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Post by Brenda on May 26, 2021 9:03:57 GMT -5
3) Her forcing the children to memorize Bible verses as a punishment which would've made them associate reading the Bible with punishment. I can see Olivia Walton as the kind of mother who would use the Bible to teach her children life lessons. For example, if a child is caught lying or cheating or disobeying, she would find Bible verses to teach the child why the offense is wrong, that it is displeasing to God, and that the child should commit the Bible verse to memory so that the verse would come to mind next time he is tempted to lie or cheat or disobey. Writers like Earl Hamner, who write stories loosely based on real people and events, often choose a characteristic of the real life person and exaggerate that characteristic in their writing. When John Boy’s first novel was about to be published, he warned Olivia that “I made you out to be kind of a Baptist.” I think what he meant was he exaggerated her “Baptistness” (no idea if there is such a word). I think Hamner expected us as viewers to recognize the absurdity of ordering a child to go to his room and memorize 10 random Bible verses as punishment for some misdeed.
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Post by patriciaanne on May 26, 2021 17:49:45 GMT -5
Honestly I never thought it was so awful to have to memorize Bible verses. Back then children were getting whipped, so I think that was pretty soft.
Spencer's Mountain was far less autobiographical than the Waltons and even the Waltons is still only based on the Hammers, not a true autobiography.
I would have been happy to have Olivia Walton as a mom (no offense to my own mom). I thought she could be strict, but she also had a lot of compassion for her kids.
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Post by Brenda on May 26, 2021 18:25:24 GMT -5
There is nothing awful about learning Bible verses. I grew up learning Bible verses in Sunday school and Bible classes. I am astonished that many years later I remember those verses I learned as a young child, and they come to mind in certain situations that affect my life now.
I don’t think it’s appropriate to force kids to learn Bible verses as a punishment though, and I still believe that it’s something Earl Hamner included in his writing to exaggerate his mother’s religious views, suggesting that she was such a good Baptist she even punished her kids with the Bible.
The Walton kids were happy and healthy. They rarely got into any serious trouble. They grew up to be successful adults. It doesn’t seem to me that they had a bad mother. Olivia Walton had her faults and made mistakes, as we all do, but I think she was a good mother who loved her family.
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Post by Easton on May 26, 2021 18:46:27 GMT -5
^ Indeed. Corabeth Godsey was a far-worse mother than Olivia, not to mention a far-worse Christian.
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Post by Brenda on May 26, 2021 19:19:44 GMT -5
I don’t think Corabeth was a bad mother. She was just an inexperienced mother. She was at a disadvantage because she became a mother to a child who was already half-grown and had experienced things Corabeth wasn’t aware of. I think she tried to over-compensate for that. She made a lot of mistakes, but I believe she loved Aimee and did her best to be a good mother to her.
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Post by Easton on May 26, 2021 21:37:57 GMT -5
^ Corabeth's problem was that she turned her back on common sense and human nature and learned how to become a mother through books. She refused to listen to anyone's advice and opinion, including Ike's. Even Aimee had to teach her how to be a mother.
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