Językowa kreacja matki w „Nad Niemnem” Elizy Orzeszkowej
The linguistic creation of mother in „On the Banks of the Neman” by Eliza Orzeszkowa

Summary/Abstract: The analysis of the content of Eliza Orzeszkowa's epic „On the Banks of the Neman” allows to distinguish the following different types of mother created by the writer: the Polish Mother, Mother-Kitten, Mother-Cuckoo, Distant Mother, and Mother Willow. Wisely devoted to her children, Maria Kirfowa is the Polish Mother type: she runs her farm all by herself, is a keeper-at-home, and, being a single mother, brings her children up to function well in the society of the second half of the twentieth century. Another mother, the proud patriot Mrs Andrzejowa Korczyńska, constitutes a monumental character. As a widow living up to her ideals she is - as it may seem - a woman to follow, but, alienated from her environment, she fails. Her son takes advantage of her knowing that his mother will do anything for him, like mother kitten. Starzyńska is the Mother-Cuckoo; she abandons her children, Janek and Antolka, to be brought up by someone else. The reason is that this woman's need to re-marry is stronger than her maternal feelings. Self-centered Emilia is the Distant Mother, that is to say one that is absent from the process of her children's development. Emilia's role of Witold and Leonia's mother is taken over by Marta, who, as Mother-Willow, brings them up, feeds them, teaches, comforts, spoils, but also sets requirements, cares, and, first of all, is always there for them. In the complex reality of the second half of the twentieth century the situation of the Polish women was quite difficult, also in the maternal duties they fulfilled; those were perceived and realized very differently by different mothers, which we find notably reflected in the realistic novel „On the Banks of the Neman” by Eliza Orzeszkowa.

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