THERE’S no such thing as a perfect parent. Those of us who have children understand that, and we all buy, gratefully, into the concept of “good enough”. But is there such a thing as “horrid parenting”? Do mothers whose aim in life is to crush the children they brought into the world (and just about everyone else), whatever it takes, exist?
According to the following books, they do! Here are some of the most evil and annoying mums, who, in real life would either be behind bars or guaranteed to put their offspring into years of therapy!
CERSEI LANNISTER
The Game of Thrones
Author: George RR Martin
Beautiful, calculating and ambitious, Cersei Lannister takes women empowerment to the extreme ends. One of the most infamous villains in film and literary history, Cersei is driven to ensure that she and her children are ahead of the game, by killing or torturing just about anyone who’d stop her. As she once told her brother and lover, Jaime, “Everyone who isn’t us is an enemy.”
In the desire to protect her family, Cersei has done some truly despicable things — even more despicable than sleeping with her brother. She’s abused, beaten and killed people for any slight, real or imagined. She’s also become progressively more unhinged, making her unpredictable and, therefore, terrifying. Now that the children she fought so hard to protect are dead and she’s queen of the seven kingdoms, she has nothing to lose and everything to gain. Or does she?
Badness rating: 10/10
MARGARET WHITE
Carrie
Author: Stephen King
It’s clear that Margaret White does NOT want children. But raging hormones overtook her and she becomes pregnant out of wedlock. Her fanatically-religious views drive her to abort her unborn child through extreme means — by throwing herself down the stairs to induce a miscarriage. Her second attempt at motherhood fares even worse.
Her relationship with her daughter is extremely abusive from the time Carrie was a baby. The unhinged mother believes that everything is a sin and takes repressive views of women’s sexuality to new highs, believing that only “loose women” develop breasts or “dirty pillows” as she calls them. Her unconventional mothering (and that’s putting it mildly) finally drives Carrie to insanity and well, most of you horror fans out there know what happens when Carrie turns into a raging human-killing machine.
Badness rating: 10/10
MRS BENNET
Pride and Prejudice
Author: Jane Austen
We all know an aunty who’s somewhat similar to Mrs Bennet! Mother to the five Bennet sisters — Jane, Elizabeth, Mary, Kitty and Lydia, she’s an incorrigible social gadfly. She’s bossy, loud, crude and often drunk. The woman has one abiding goal through the novel: to see all her daughters married and thus financially secure. An entail demands that none of her five daughters may inherit their father’s estate, and thus they’ll have no permanent home or source of income unless they find themselves wealthy husbands.
Mrs Bennet schemes endless embarrassing scenarios to endear her daughters to men of means; at one point orchestrating Jane’s prolonged illness (and thus residence) at Mr Bingley’s Netherfield estate; attempting to force Elizabeth into an unhappy marriage with her cousin Mr Collins, and at every chance, throwing Lydia and Kitty toward an endless parade of military officers.
Badness rating: 6/10
CORRINE DOLLANGANGER AND OLIVIA FOXWORTH
Flowers in the attic
Author: Virginia Andrews
What can come between a grieving widow and her father’s inheritance? In 1957, the Dollanganger family was living an idyllic life in Gladstone, Pennsylvania until Mr Dollanganger dies in a car accident, leaving his wife Corrine deep in debt with four children and no professional skills. The family is forced to move in with Corrine's wealthy parents, from whom she’s estranged.
To get back into her father’s good books, Corrine, with the help of her mother, Olivia, hides her children in an attic for years. And then finally tries to kill them with arsenic sprinkled on doughnuts. Grandma is in cohorts with mummy dearest and adds on to the children’s misery by starving them and beating them repeatedly. Man, what a team they made!
Badness rating: 9.5/10
THE OTHER MOTHER
Coraline
Author: Neil Gaiman
Who doesn’t want an attentive mother who panders to your every need? Makes you your favourite dessert? Have warm hot meals waiting for you? For young Coraline, the ‘Other Mother’ represented a beguiling alternative universe version of her highly distracted parents.
The latter was far nicer, more fun and she was around all the time. But there’s a darker side lurking behind her buttoned eyes. As it turns out, the Other Mother is a sinister evil monster with a taste for sewing buttons into children’s eyes and stealing their souls.
Badness rating: 9/10