"My Own Darling Mother": An Examination of a Mother-Daughter Relationship

Abstract

This paper will examine the relationship between Gladys Arnold and her Mother, Florida Mae Arnold Sutcliffe. It is based on correspondence between Arnold and her mother that spans more than forty years. The paper will explore both the bonds of affection between these two women and the tensions between a mother and her daughter who were separated for much of the period under review. Born in Macoun, Saskatchewan in 1905, the bond between Arnold and her mother deepened following the premature death of Arnold_s father in 1915. In the mid-1930s she left Canada to report on events in Europe. Her mother, meanwhile, had remarried and moved to Victoria, British Columbia. Living in Paris and reporting as the only Canadian Press correspondent in France at the time, Arnold wrote frequently to her mother of conditions leading up to the German invasion and occupation. She also relied on her mother to provide emotional and material support while she attempted to establish her career as a foreign correspondent. The correspondence between Arnold and Sutcliffe sheds light on issues related to the emotional ties between mother and daughter, the importance of family to Arnold_s career as a journalist and war correspondent and during the postwar period. In her struggle to balance the demands of family and her need to earn a living, the correspondence reveals much about the balancing act required of a single, professional woman in the 1930s, 40s and 50s