Margaret Robertson

Margaret Robertson is Maribeth Robertson’s mother, and her story is shaped by the distance between her affection for her daughter and her inability to protect her from Bert Robertson’s decisions. She helps Maribeth prepare for the spring dance and grieves when Maribeth is sent away during her pregnancy. The reunion that follows the birth brings mother and daughter back into contact, but not back to the life they had before: Margaret must confront the loss of time, trust, and the chance to support Maribeth when she needed her most.

Family and household

Margaret lives in Onawa, Iowa, with her husband Bert and their children Maribeth, Noelle, and Ryan. The household is organized by Bert’s strict expectations for his daughters. He controls what Maribeth may wear to the dance, insisting that she change out of a bright dress for a more modest navy one. Margaret helps her find the alternative, a dress she knows Bert will consider suitable, even as she recognizes that Maribeth dislikes it and fears being laughed at. Her care is practical and close at hand; her ability to challenge her husband is limited. The narrative makes that limitation explicit: once Bert has made up his mind, Margaret sees little point in arguing.

The contrast between the daughters and Ryan shows the unequal terms of the household. Bert expects Maribeth and Noelle to guard their reputations, while Ryan, as a son, is permitted far greater freedom. Margaret has never worked outside the home, a circumstance Bert takes pride in. Her position within the family therefore reflects the same gendered order that governs Maribeth: she can soften a decision or offer comfort, but she does not control the rules that shape her daughters’ lives.

Maribeth’s pregnancy and departure

When Ryan tells Bert that Maribeth is pregnant, Bert confronts her in anger and demands to know who the father is. Maribeth refuses to identify him. She has already decided she will have the baby and arrange for it to be adopted, rather than marry the baby’s father, who is marrying someone else. Margaret is crying when she comes into the living room, and the distress of her daughter and the conflict in the family are apparent. But Bert decides that Maribeth will be sent to the Sisters of Charity, and Margaret does not stop him.

Bert gives Maribeth money for her stay and tells her she is leaving the next morning. Margaret has retreated to her bedroom in tears by the time the decision is carried out. As Maribeth prepares to go, she tells her mother, “I love you, Mom,” and Margaret hugs her tightly, promising to visit. The promise offers Maribeth affection at the moment of separation, but it cannot undo the banishment or the fact that Margaret did not challenge Bert. Maribeth leaves home grieving for her mother and younger sister Noelle, while Margaret is left behind with the family’s silence and sorrow.

Contact during the separation

For months, Maribeth remains away from her family. At Thanksgiving she calls Margaret, at first identifying herself quietly and wishing her mother a happy holiday. Margaret recognizes her and bursts into tears, immediately fearing that Bert will punish her for receiving the call. Maribeth says that she only wanted to say hello and admits how much she misses her mother. The exchange makes plain that their separation has not diminished their attachment; it has instead left both women with a longing they have had little opportunity to express.

Margaret asks in a lowered voice whether Maribeth is all right and whether the baby has been born. When Maribeth tells her that the birth is still a month away, Bert takes the phone from Margaret. Even in this brief contact, Margaret’s concern for her daughter has to contend with her husband’s authority. She has managed to hear Maribeth’s voice and ask about the pregnancy, but the conversation is interrupted before it can become an open reconciliation.

Reunion and regret

After the baby is born, Maribeth speaks to Margaret by phone again. Margaret wants to know whether the delivery was difficult, whether Maribeth is all right, and whether the baby is pretty or resembles her. Maribeth tells her the baby is beautiful. Their conversation, and then Maribeth’s reunion with Noelle, lead toward the family’s return to one another: Margaret and the others come to bring Maribeth home after her hospital stay.

At the reunion, the Whittakers invite Maribeth’s family to stay for lunch, but her parents say they must return. Margaret looks at her daughter with sorrow and regret for what she was unable to give her. She recognizes that she lacked the courage to stand up for Maribeth, and feels ashamed that someone else was there for her instead. Her question about whether Maribeth is all right is cautious, as if she is unsure whether she may approach her. Maribeth answers that she is fine, and asks how her mother is; Margaret then cries and asks to see the baby. Seeing the child brings another wave of emotion, and Margaret remarks that the baby resembles Maribeth as an infant.

Significance

Margaret’s relationship with Maribeth is defined by a painful mixture of tenderness, constraint, and belated recognition. She helps her daughter before the dance, embraces her at the moment of departure, and reaches out with concern when contact becomes possible. Yet she does not prevent Bert from sending Maribeth away, and the narrative presents that failure as a source of later shame rather than as an absence of love. Her regret at the reunion acknowledges the difference between caring for someone and being able to act in their defense.

The reconciliation remains incomplete but meaningful. Margaret sees Maribeth again and meets the baby, while Maribeth returns to the family after a separation that has altered her. Their contact does not erase the injury of being sent away; instead, it gives Margaret an opportunity to name what she could not provide and to approach her daughter with sorrow and concern. In this way, Margaret’s arc registers both the persistence of mother-daughter attachment and the cost of a household in which one parent’s authority leaves the other unable to protect her child.