History Literature / TheGrandmother

* CoolOldLady: The Grandmother is kind, gentle, wise, knowledgeable and virtuous. She devotes herself to her grandchildren, takes them places, imparts her knowledge to them, and teaches them right from wrong, all the while showing understanding for their childish behaviors. She has advice for anyone in the community and is able to intercede for young people when their life plans are thwarted by those in authority. Her backstory is also very interesting and shows that she has survived through some turbulent times herself.

* GoodParents: Mr. Prošek is always portrayed as interacting kindly with his children. He communicates tenderly with them and he is shown implicitly approving his son Jan's wish to be apprenticed as a gamekeeper after leaving school. However, his coachman's job takes him away from his family for long periods of time when the Princess is not on her Bohemian estate, leaving the children in closer contact with their mother. She, on the other hand, is given a rather "meh" portrayal. The author never shows her doing anything blatantly untoward to her children; but she doesn't really show her being warm or motherly to them either; pretty much anytime we see the mother, she is either telling the children what to do or calling them out on their behavior, and is even implied to be irritable at times. The author specifically mentions at one point that "The children knew very well that the Grandmother was more lenient than their mother; she would turn a blind eye to many of the boys' childish shenanigans; she didn't stop Barunka when she stumbled somewhere sometimes; for this reason, they would confide everything in her rather than in their mother, who judged everything more strictly according to her strict nature." This is reflective of the author's parents: while her father was affectionate and tender toward Němcová, her mother was harsh toward her and seemed not to really like her.[[note]]There is speculation that Božena Němcová's official parents were not her biological ones but that she had been an illegitimate child of the Princess, or one of her sisters, and had been entrusted to them for bringing up. This may have accounted for her official mother not caring for Barbora (later Božena).[[/note]]

* WildHair: The local madwoman Viktorka has unkempt black hair and a general disheveled appearance. [[spoiler: After Viktorka dies, lying in her coffin, the Grandmother and the children see her hair combed for the first time.]]

The eponymous grandmother, an old peasant woman, lives in a cottage in North-Eastern Bohemia (then under Austrian rule). One day, one of her three children, her daughter Terezie, writes her a letter in which she states that her husband has just received a position as the coachman of a Princess,[[note]]That is, a high-ranking noblewoman[[/note]] who spends part of the year on her estate, which is located only a few miles away from where the Grandmother lives. She asks the Grandmother to come and live with her family, adding that her grandchildren, whom she has never met, are looking forward to seeing her. The Grandmother is used to her life in the village and is not sure if she should take her daughter up on her offer, but, blood being thicker than water, she finally decides to go. The milieu to which she arrives is a welcoming one. Her daughter's family, the Prošeks, have been allotted a lovely cottage called "Staré bělidlo" on the estate. Everyone is excited to see the Grandmother, and while the children are at first surprised by her appearance, which is different from that of other grandmothers they know, they soon develop a strong mutual bond due to the grandmother's immense kindness. It is not long before the Grandmother takes on a significant role in the upbringing of the three children, developing a particularly strong bond with the girl, Barunka. She also takes over much of the running of the household, as her daughter is also employed by the Princess at her chateau. Although some of the old lady's country ways appear old-fashioned at first, she will change nothing about them and continues to do things her way. The Grandmother is portrayed as a paragon of kindness, wisdom and piety, as well a loyal Czech woman. She teaches the children good morals, takes them to see various locals, is befriended by the Princess, gives advice to various members of the community, and intercedes for young people who face obstacles to getting married to those they love. In this way, she gains the universal love, respect and admiration of her family and the community at large.

This novel has long been considered one of the most iconic in Czech literature. It must be said, though, that while the book still stands as an official classic, it is perhaps no longer read as widely for pleasure as its status would demand. The Czechs are are not a people known for excessive sentimentality and they tend to find more relevance in more modern titles, such as books by [[Creator/KarelCapek Karel Čapek]]. Nonetheless, the book has significant value as an ethnographic document, as it describes various Czech folk customs. Furthermore, if one looks past the book's romanticism, one finds interesting stories of a variety of female characters of various social backgrounds who, while they keep to their stations in life, are often shown exercising agency in various ways. The novel would deserve a proper feminist analysis.

* AluminumChristmasTrees: The idea that someone drafted into the Austrian army would be bound to serve for a whopping 14 years is a jarring notion. This was indeed a cruel practice, but it should be made clear that in the early 19th century, compulsory military service in the Austrian army was not universal. It concerned the lower social classes and was selective; the selection was not necessarily always unbiased and at one point, those who were selected had indeed to serve for 14 years (later shortened to 8 years; by that time in practice, a soldier could typically be sent on peacetime furlough after 3 years of training and it was also possible for those who could afford it to pay to be excused from military service or to send someone to serve in their place).

A novel by the Czech writer Božena Němcová, considered a classic of Czech literature, published in 1855 as a tribute to the author's own grandmother.

The eponymous grandmother, an old peasant woman, lives in a cottage in North-Eastern Bohemia (then under Austrian rule). One day, one of her three children, her daughter Terezie, writes her a letter in which she states that her husband has just received a position as the coachman of a Princess[[note]]That is, a high-ranking noblewoman[[/note]], who spends part of the year on her estate, which is located only a few miles away from where the Grandmother lives. She asks the Grandmother to come and live with her family, adding that her grandchildren, whom she has never met, are looking forward to seeing her. The Grandmother is used to her life in the village and is not sure if she should take her daughter up on her offer, but, blood being thicker than water, she finally decides to go. The milieu to which she arrives is a welcoming one. Her daughter's family, the Prošeks, have been allotted a lovely cottage called "Staré bělidlo" on the estate. Everyone is excited to see the Grandmother, and while the children are at first surprised by her appearance, which is different from that of other grandmothers they know, they soon develop a strong mutual bond due to the grandmother's immense kindness. It is not long before the Grandmother takes on a significant role in the upbringing of the three children, developing a particularly strong bond with the girl, Barunka. She also takes over much of the running of the household, as her daughter is also employed by the Princess at her chateau. Although some of the old lady's country ways appear old-fashioned at first, she will change nothing about them and continues to do things her way. The Grandmother is portrayed as a paragon of kindness, wisdom and piety, as well a loyal Czech woman. She teaches the children good morals, takes them to see various locals, is befriended by the Princess, gives advice to various members of the community, and intercedes for young people who face obstacles to getting married to those they love. In this way, she gains the universal love, respect and admiration of her family and the community at large.

* FilialPiety:

** When the Grandmother was young, her boyfriend Jiří asked her to marry him right after he had allowed himself to be recruited into the Prussian Army. She mentioned that they needed their parents' blessing – and she was away from home at the time, having come to see Jiří on Prussian territory. Jiří's uncle praised her piety and told her not to go back home, lest her parents try to talk her out of staying with Jiří. He said he would stand in place of her parents and that they would give her their blessing afterward. She accepted and when after the wedding she went to see her parents, her mother was very upset that her daughter would be leaving home in order to follow a soldier to a foreign land. However, her father blessed the union, reasoning that the young couple were responsible for their choice and telling his wife that she had also left her parents to marry him.

** The Grandmother's daughter Johanka, who lives in Vienna, writes her a letter asking for her consent to get married to a man called Jura, who is Croatian. Although the Grandmother is a little disappointed that she has not chosen a Czech, she freely gives her her blessing, recognizing that the two of them have chosen each other, and taking some joy in the fact that he bears her husband's name (Jiří and Jura are both forms of George).

* GoodParents: Mr. Prošek is always portrayed as interacting kindly with his children. He communicates tenderly with them and he is shown implicitly approving his son Jan's wish to be apprenticed as a gamekeeper after leaving school. However, his coachman's job takes him away from his family for long periods of time when the Princess is not on her Bohemian estate, leaving the children in closer contact with their mother. She, on the other hand, is given a rather "meh" portrayal. The author never shows her doing anything blatantly untoward to her children; but she doesn't really show her being warm or motherly to them either; pretty much anytime we see the mother, she is either telling the children what to do or calling them out on their behavior, and is even implied to be irritable at times. The author specifically mentions at one point that "The children knew very well that the Grandmother was more lenient than their mother; she would turn a blind eye to many of the boys' childish shenanigans; she didn't stop Barunka when she stumbled somewhere sometimes; for this reason, they would confide everything in her rather than in their mother, who judged everything more strictly according to her strict nature." This is reflective of the author's parents: while her father was affectionate and tender toward Němcová, her mother was harsh toward her and seemed not to really like her.[[note]]There is speculation that Božena Němcová's official parents were not her biological ones but that she had been an illegitimate child of the Princess, or one of her sisters, and had been entrusted to them for bringing up. This may have accounted for her official mother not caring for Barbora (later Božena)[[/note]]