THE AGED MOTHER

PROJECT
IN

ENGLISH

SUBMITTED BY:
Trixie Anne Gabatino
SUBMITTED TO:
Jaquelyn Jerao

PLOT
The Story of the Aged Mother by Matsuo Basho is a story in which a son andhis mothers
pain in their battle against the decree of putting aged people to death. The story started
at the foot of the mountain where a poor farmer lived with his agedmother. Their place
was governed by an absolute leader who sent the decree of killingaged people in that place.
That time, killing aged people was not common. When thepoor farmer heard the decree he
felt sorrow in his heart, since then he prepared anescape. Just as his work ended, he
cooked food, wrapped it in a small piece of cloth andtied it in his neck together with cool
and sweet water. Then, he carried his mother on hisback and started walking towards the
summit of Obatsayuma, the mountain of theabandoning of aged. On their way to the
summit, the helpless mother noticed thedangerous path and thought that her son doesn't
know the paths and might passthrough danger so she reached for twigs, snapped them to
pieces and quietly droppedthem until they reached the summit. The poor farmer released
his mother and created acomfortable cushion and said his farewell. Before he left her, she
told him about thepath she made, and then the farmer realized that they need to face the
decree togetherso he carried his mother again on his back and stated walking back. When
they arrivedback, he told the emperor his story and the emperor listened to his story and
abolished to the decree.

CHARACTER
The characters in the story are the emperor who is a despotic leader. He is a round
character and may be the antagonist in the story. He declared the decree of killing the
aged people because he was a warrior he thought aged people were useless
and cant be helpful to those who are still strong as him but in
the end, he realized thatthose aged people are useful in their own ways and he also learned
their importance tothe kingdom. Another character in the story is the farmer who is the
protagonist. Hewas the ever loving son of the aged mother in the story, he did not think of
himself butinstead, he thought of his mother who was in great danger of being killed
innocently. Heloved his mother very much that he did not think that it will be a great
danger if he willgo back down. And the aged mother who is the flat character in the story.
She is one of the main characters in the story. She was the one who made the emperor
changed hismind and helped her own son in returning without danger. She is the role model
in thestory who has the wisdom that brings to save her own self and others life from
thedecree that was made.

CONFLICT
The conflict of the story was Man vs. Man because the only antagonist in the story
was the emperor of Shinano who proclaimed a law to immediately kill all the aged
people. The emperor was the one who wants the aged people to be killed because he
thinks that aged people are already helpless and cant contribute to their place.

POINT OF VIEW
The Point of View of the story was in the Third person Point of View because
the author is the one who narrates the story, and she is not included in the
characters of the story. It is written in the third person point of view because the
author wrote freely.

SETTING
The story took place at the foot of a mountain somewhere in Shinano.

THEME
The story is about a mothers love, its something that no one can explain
because it is made with deep devotion, sacrifice, understanding and pain, the way
that the aged mother made a way so that she can have assurance that her son can
go home safely. She knew from the very start that she will be abandoned in the
summit of the mountain but she understood that it was for her own good