The Last Summer

The Last Summer

            Mothers can be a real pain sometimes, especially when they forbid one from using an outdoor motor to create waves in the bathtub. Where else is a dude supposed to learn how to surf? In “Wednesdays and Fridays,” by Elizabeth Jolley, Mabel Doris Morgan tries to convince her bum of a son, Donald, to get a job and to take responsibility for his life. This story is presented as a collection of short notes written from Mabel to Donald about several different things, the most consistent of which is Donald owing Mabel money for board.

            This style of writing a story as a collection of letters is relatively frustrating because it leaves out huge gaps of information. Although Mabel does mention a few of her son’s replies in later letters, much of Donald’s side of the story is hidden from view. One example of something that Donald’s perspective might have revealed is whether Donald knew that he was going to be charged as a tenant of the house in advance of the first letter, or if he found out via the letter given to him by his own mother. The amusing scenario is that poor Mabel, distraught that her son seems to be destined for failure, decides to send Donald bills for all of the things that he takes for granted, much to Donald’s dismay. She started with board, the most obvious thing that he was receiving without compensating her for, and then she charged him for every expense that he racked up during that summer.

            The first letter was sent on the 4^th of June, soon after school let out. This allows the reader to infer that Donald has just graduated high school and has been slow to get a job. Certainly Donald has not graduated college yet because one of the jobs that his mother suggests that he try is “concrete hand,” which would be a job for somebody without a college degree. Donald being a recent high school graduate explains his interest in smoking and drinking, along with his carefree feeling toward his mother. His mother is of course annoyed that her son now has a diploma but yet seems content to allow it to sit while he enjoys his youth.

            The success of the letters is clear at the end of the story. Mabel’s goal of revealing to her son the true natures of the world is accomplished and Donald hides in his room crying for the loss of his youth. Mabel is not snobby or proud about her victory, but instead consoles her son and helps him to face the world. To consol him, Mabel offered to lend, but not give, her son twenty dollars to retrieve the motor from the bottom of the river. Mabel also begins to accept Pearl, Donald’s girlfriend, as part of the family.  Finally, she uses the last letter to sternly remind him, as only a mother can, that he is not going to freeload off of her and that she does expect him to pay all of the expenses that he has racked up over the summer. Mabel’s approach to parenting is highly unusual, but seems highly effective, and immensely amusing to the readers of this collection.