ignorant mother can value such a high qualification. However, Gorky’s characterization tries to unravel the impossibility. And Pelagea resembles the few
ones who survive that antagonism. She is able to cope with her emotion so that her religious belief does not
constraint her relationship with Pavel and friends. Instead, Pelagea reaches the bottom line that what Pavel and friends do is for the good of working people, although their
belief is diametrically opposed to that of the mother, who maintains that God is the single most destination. As a mother she is able to be fair to her son and to give
comfort by not standing in Pavel’s way.
4.1.3. Sensitive
Another kind of personality explored by the author in the novel is Pelagea’s being so sensitive to her surroundings. Her simple motherly instinct leads her to
easily pity everybody, including Pavel’s friends. She senses the suffering of others and feels sorry for people. She pities Natasha, Pavel’s friend, when meeting her in the
first time, that she does not wear galoshes in a very cold night 29. Her motherly instinct tells her as if she has known her for a long time. Her feeling sorry for Natasha
is multiplied knowing that Natasha lives alone without parents and when Natasha tells that her mother’s condition is similar to that of Pelagea 38. Another example,
Pelagea is deeply touched by Nikolai Vesovshchikov, who loves any kinds of animals but hates people and his own family 115.
The astonishing moment happens when she weeps in Mikhail’s funeral, although people say “Pelagea must be dreadful glad he’s gone” 15. Another
astonishing moment is that she also pities Isai’s death, a government agent who spies Pavel’s movement; although when he is alive she is repulsive to him. She feels really
sorry for him whose life is merely to serve the authority that does not care for his life or death. She feels sorry that nobody feels sorry for him, that while he was alive he
was a tool of the authority, that while he was alive he had failed to make his life meaningful 139-40.
As a mother, she senses the sufferings of Pavel’s friends that somehow leads her to become their source of comfort. After she has known them, she becomes their
mother who provides foods, shelter, comfort, care, support and attention which are, unconsciously, highly needed by them to deal with their hard struggle.
4.1.4. Fearful
In addition to being a religious, sensitive yet a wise person, Pelagea is also fearful. As a simple mother, she is overwhelmed by fears. From the very beginning of
the novel the reader can sense Pelagea’s fears and suspicion of anything. Her being fearful and inferior dominates the first part of the novel and is not overcome until
nearly the end of the novel. It is crystal clear that this kind of personality is derived from her hardship and despair during her marriage with Mikhail Vlassov.
Mentally and physically tortured, Pelagea develops inferiority. She sees no hope of relief except God. She is, in fact, a sheer slave. What can she think of is
simply how to please her husband and evade his beatings and curses so that she can spare another day of being absent from pain, which is a rare occasion during her
marriage with Mikhail Vlassov. When Mikhail gets home drunk, which is regular, Pelagea has to be ready to deal with his anger and his curse. The word “bitch” is a
sacred word which all the time comes out from his mouth. The emotional and psychological pain of the mother is massive as Gorky pictures it vividly in the
beginning of the novel. One of Murphy’s ways to effectively reveal the characterization of certain
character is through description of past life experience 161-173. It is clearly shown when she recalls her past life in a conversation with Andrei Nakhodkha or the
khokhol Ukrainian in Russian language, Pavel best friend:
“When I think of my own life—oh merciful Jesus What did I ever live for? Drudgery, beatings; never see anyone but my husband, never
knew anything but fear I never even noticed how Pavel grew up, and I don’t know whether I loved him or not while my husband was alive.
All my thoughts and all my worries were about one thing—to stuff that brute of mine with food, to do his pleasure without keeping him
waiting, so he shouldn’t get angry and beat me—so’s he’d take pity on me just for once But I don’t remember that he ever did.” 96
From the passage above I can assertively infer that her marriage experience
resemblances a real nightmare that shadows her life for ever. The horror that she experienced is unimaginable so that she is hardly able to escape from it. She is in
total isolation while serving Mikhail, even until she barely notices her own son, and other people in the settlement.
Her fears and inferiority are not simply overcome after Mikhail’s death. Now she turns to be terrorized by the differences in Pavel and his associates from other
young people in the settlement. She maintains, at the first time, that changes would only bring further troubles to her family. Moreover, when Pavel starts gathering his
friends to hold discussions in his house, his mother is at first dreadfully suspicious to Pavel’s friends, especially Nikholai Vesovshchikov—an unsociable young man
whose father is a thief. Asked by Pavel about whether she is afraid or not, Pelagea responds, “How can I help being afraid? All my live I’ve been afraid. My soul is all
grown over with fear” 26. Finally discovering that Pavel and friends are Socialists, Pelagea is even more
terrified. “Socialist,” in her mind, refers to some brutal groups that have killed the tsar and changed the social condition in Russia. Any change of current social situation, to
her knowledge, would only increase the suffering 40. Fears have seemingly totally conquered her so that everything different is seen skeptically and negatively.
Such an excessive fear draws a parallel with the dismay, loneliness and remoteness in her life. It is extraordinarily upsetting to discover that a mother, whose
life and sacrifice should be honored with the highest degree, endures such an unacceptable torment. Pelagea has severely been reduced to be a mere slave. She has
been denied an elementary right of being free from fears. In exploring this kind of personality, Maxim Gorky skillfully portrays the
social condition in the settlement so as to what Pelagea endures resembles the PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
condition of the people in the factory settlement in general and the condition of mothers in specific.
Furthermore, she feels more afraid when the authority starts to make some arrests to Pavel’s comrades. She is perfectly assured that Pavel’s turn would be the
next. Pavel says to his mother, after the khokhol and Vesovschikov’s arrest, “You’ll have to get used to it” 59. Her motherly instinct responds, “Do they torture people?
Tear their bodies and break their bones? Whenever I think of that—it’s so awful…” 59.
However, to a greater extent, Pelagea’s fear of losing Pavel demonstrates that she loves him so much. Conversations with other characters play a highly important
part to reveal the personality of Pelagea. In the proceedings of the story, Pelagea’s fear of losing Pavel is shown when she recalls her past life in a conversation with
Andrei Nakhodka or the khokhol: “My husband died,” she went on, leaning forward and lowering her
voice, “and I turned to my son, but he was taken up with this business. That was hard to bear; I was dreadfully afraid for him. How
could I go on living if anything happened to him? What tortures I went through My heart fairly burst when I thought of what might happen to
him.” 97
And this quotation also hints about her next kind of personality, namely, loving.
4.1.5. Loving