ABSTRACT
The notion of the mother as soft-hearted ally of her children and the father as disciplinarian is deeply embedded in our cultural tradition. It can be unfolded in art - as in de Maupassant's 'La vie d'une femme', or, for comic purposes, in the blonde of the half-hour American TV comedy who cutely deceives the (slightly) sterner father to gain some concession for their child. It can be exploited for gain, as in the advertisement depicting the young mother lovingly applying a patented product to her smiling baby. It can be idealised in religious teaching, as the merciful Holy Mother interceding for humankind with a just, paternal god. All of these cultural symbols share a common foundation: the mother who cares with unfailing patience for the infant and whose tenderness inclines her ever after to indulgent favour of the child she once nurtured during its total dependence. The other side of this picture is that of the father as the family's authority figure, more inclined to judge transgressions for their content and less given to capricious forgiveness, the keeper of purse-strings and purveyor of discipline.
