Character Analysis Of Clara In Fenstad's Mother

Everyone wants to stay young and healthy forever because no one wants to grow old. At the beginning of the story Fenstad’s Mother, Harry’s mother, Clara is an independent woman who takes initiative for any obstacle she comes across. Clara strongly believes in what she thinks is right. She will change anything that is wrong in her eyes. Throughout the story, Clara’s age begins to upset her. Her age begins to show, but she tries her best to not feel so old. After a while, Clara starts to accept her age. Clara, who was once the boss of Harry begins to become more dependent on his help, as he becomes the boss of her.

At the beginning of the story, Clara portrays an independent woman. When Harry visits her he notices the letters that she has been writing to her “congressman and political dictators around the globe.” Clara appears to have made accomplishments in her past, because of the picture on her wall of Martin Luther King shaking her hand. Instead of accepting the choices Harry makes, she disapproves them. She does not approve of him going to church and makes the comment, “Skating after church? Isn’t that some doctrinal error?” She hopes that Harry gets back with his ex-wife Eleanor, because she does not think love is the most important thing. Clara does not understand why people of Harry’s generation

have to find the “right person”, and believes they should learn to live with the wrong person.
As the story moves forward, Clara’s age becomes an issue within herself. She appears to have “stiff gray hair”, which she is probably not a fan of. It is obvious that she cannot drive a car since Harry drives her everywhere. Clara tells Harry that she wants him to get her out of the house. This shows that she feels trapped, because of her age, declining and there’s not much to do without her son's help. Clara says, “They’ll notice me” when Harry invites her to his composition class. She is nervous that she will be the only elder and does not want to feel alienated.
Struggling with feeling old, Clara tries to feel young again. She tells Harry, “What I hate about my age is how nice everyone tries to be.” She does not want to be treated differently. Clara wishes she could be more active like she used to be. When Harry arrived on Tuesday to pick her up for the composition class she was wearing “her best” dark blue overcoat. In the car, Harry notices a strong scent of perfume that Clara is wearing. She is trying to disguise her age and make her sadness fade away. Clara asks Harry if the students are “working-class people”. This reassures her that she can no longer work and her age continues to depress her.
Life starts to become a challenge for Clara as she becomes more dependent on her son. Everywhere they go Harry appears to be taking the initiative to take care of her. Harry holds her hand or arm to make sure she does not fall. At one point, it said he took her elbow to guide her over the snow melting into puddles in the entryway when he was helping her out of the car. While they are walking to Country Bob’s, Harry notices that his footprints in the snow were different from his mothers. Clara's footprints were much longer since she is not as fast as Harry. Clara becomes so dependent that she does not realize that Susan and Harry are giving her a bath.
Harry, who once followed his mother’s rules and was dependent on her, now is the boss of his mother. With Clara’s age crumbling, she is more of a child figure and Harry is a parent figure towards her. Clara apologizes right away when Harry got angry that she said, “That wasn’t logic. Those are just rhetorical tactics. It’s filler and drudgery.” In the coffee shop Clara tries to give her dark blue coat to a woman who looks homeless. Attempting to give the coat to the woman, Harry becomes furious and tries to stop her. “Take it before my son stops me”, Clara says to the desperate woman. Normally Clara overrules Harry, but now he overrules her.
Somewhere within Clara she found acceptance with her age.

The second time Clara attended Harry’s composition class she was seen by Harry taking notes and enjoying the class. She got up to waltz when Barb Kjellerud asked for a volunteer. In the car Clara, says “What a wonderful class”. She finally was not thinking about her age. As Harry and Susan are ice skating, they notice Clara sitting on a bench watching them. Clara told Harry that she likes to watch happiness and that she wanted to see him and Susan together. A new side of Clara is beginning to unravel. Loving the little things in life is easy for Clara now and her age is no longer a

worry.
Clara, who was once the boss of Harry begins to become more dependent on his help, as he becomes the boss of her. The thought of being old was not what Clara enjoyed thinking about it. She tried everything to hide her crumbling age, but nothing was successful. Clara went through many changes and struggles to only end up finding herself in the end. Accepting the truth may be tough, but Clara found peace within herself by loving the skin she lives in.