Parenting in modern society is a very controversial matter: what is considered too much, or not enough? While some parents are overprotective and thronging with affection towards a child, others can be emotionally vacant and lacking the capacity to care for a child. Such circumstances are apparent with one extreme occurring in the short story “Jesus Christ Murdeena” by Lynn Coady and the other extreme occurring in the short story “The Art of Cooking and Serving” by Margaret Atwood. Lynn Coady illustrates the style of parenting in which the mother is too involved and emotionally overbearing towards the daughter, Murdeena. In contrast, Margaret Atwood demonstrates the style of parenting in which the parent is without warmth and is inconsiderate towards the daughter, who is the narrator. Even though the stories contrast, they both serve to express a common truth, which is that parenting and parents have a great deal of influence on their children, resulting in emotional adversities.

In the beginning of the short story “The Art of Cooking and Serving”, it is revealed that the narrator is affected by her mother’s parenting, causing her age to be distorted. The daughter appears to be far more advanced in her years than in actuality. She is envisioned through clear imagery, “knitting … doggedly” (Atwood, 434), which forms a suggestion of an elderly presence. The narrator, in reality is only eleven years old. Yet, it is due to the fact that she has to care for herself - because her mother lacks the energy and emotion to care for her, “my mother was dozing” (Atwood, 437) - that she is now more mature. That lack of sentiment, however, has also made her emotionally detached and resentful. The mother’s absence of parenting and love is contributing to the creation of an emotionally handicapped child.

In contrast, the daughter Murdeena, in the short story “Jesus Christ Murdeena” is affected by her mother’s relentless parenting and emotions, causing Murdeena’s age to appear younger. In the beginning of the story Murdeena is visualized as a young and gentle person, like a child, who “couldn’t count” (Coady, 346). It is only through the determination of her age that the reader understands that she is in fact 23 years old. The reason that Murdeena acts and appears so young is because, in contrast to “The Art of Cooking and Serving”, she is treated with too much affection, emotion, and overall parenting. Due to the fact that she is treated continuously like a baby by her mother, she begins to act like a child. Murdeena’s mother orders her to do things, “Go sit on the porch” (Coady 343), in a protective manor, ultimately causing her to lose all sense of independence and all will to have emotion. Murdeena’s mother indirectly makes Murdeena detached from her emotions because she does not want to live resembling her mother, with an abundance of uncontrolled sentiments.
The physical involvement of the mother in “The Art of Cooking and Serving” affects the daughter’s emotions significantly. The mother is hardly present in her daughter’s life, always “dozing” (Atwood, 437) and never being the parental figure she should. This affects the daughter to such a great extent that she says that her mother had an “alarming passivity” (Atwood, 437) and “neglected” (Atwood, 436) her duties as a parent. This consequently creates anger and resentment toward the mother by the daughter, thus adding an emotional barrier to the already present physical barrier. These barriers are what cause the daughter to accumulate negative emotions, such as isolation, loneliness, and abandonment. She starts to feel as though she, “couldn’t join in” (Atwood 441), a consequence of her mother’s parenting. The narrator is amassing vats of negative emotion and is becoming detached due to her mother’s vacant parenting style.

In contrast, during the story “Jesus Christ Murdeena”, there is an overwhelming physical presence of the mother, which causes Murdeena’s emotional adversities. The mother wants to constantly be with Murdeena, she is continually present and “yanks her back inside” (Coady, 349), and this causes her to want to grow apart and find some of her own personal space. Murdeena, creates a façade, causing her to collapse inside herself, growing more detached from people. The entire reason for this, contrasting “The Art of Cooking and Serving” is that she wants to have less physical time with her mother. The controlling influence of her mother pushes Murdeena away causing her to lose affection for her, and have a feisty change in attitude, “‘Ah, Mumma’ Murdeena shakes her head” (Coady, 351). The physical presence of Murdeena’s mother causes Murdeena to be emotionally tormented, yearning for isolation and loneliness, creating an emotionally detached daughter.

In the short story, “The Art of Cooking and Serving”, the daughter’s emotional problems from her mother's lack of parenting is revealed through her interactions with other people. The narrator has hardly any interactions with other people and does not maintain relationships very well, “I avoided the boys who approached me” (Coady 441). It is for the reason the mother is absent physically and emotionally that the daughter feels all people with be this way to her, thus she avoids people entirely, “I had to turn away” (Coady, 441). This lack of interaction causes emotional adversities for the daughter, because she does not get a chance to build friendships are trust among other people, and it causes loneliness and depression. These emotional hardships once again originate from the mother being vacant and lacking the care she needs to give.

The effect that the parent has on the daughter in “Jesus Christ Murdeena” is shown through her interactions with other people. In contrast with “The Art of Cooking and Serving”, it is due to the fact that her mother is too overbearing that she seeks refuge in other people, consequently running away from her emotional situation. This causes her to be more detached from her mother emotionally. As a result of her mother, Murdeena goes out on walks and spends her time with a group of elderly people because, “they listened” (Coady, 357) to what she had to say instead of forcing their own sentiments on her. Due to Murdeena seeking protection from her mother being emotionally overbearing, causes her to lose her sense of emotion and feelings in her own life. The reason, for the emotional struggles of Murdeena is the mother is overpowering her with an influential parental style.

Contrasted in these stories is the two extremes of parenting, vacant and overly caring, though the result is always the same, a wounded child. Lynn Coady and Margaret Atwood show the effects and consequences of these parenting styles on the children, most prominently emotional scars. Parents in modernity, should come to realize that there needs to be a common ground between these two extremes of parenting or the result, will be a scarred child.