When I was reading “The Barking” by Ingeborg Bachmann, I was about to cry ,honestly I dropped tears. This story was about love of old Fraun Jordan and Franziska for a man (son and husband) and feeling of loneliness of Old Frau Jordan.Why did this story make me sad?

First of all, I found it very sad, because it’s about a woman, who was old  and  lonely. She loved her son so much and this crazy love made her suffer. Leo ,her son, didn’t want to see her more often or to talk to her, even didn’t want to take care of his mother, when she was not feeling good because of her knee.(Leo reacted with annoyance and then, to placate her, had explained that he couldn’t drive out to Hietzing because of such a trifle. Just tell her-he rafted off some medical terminology-she should buy this and that and do and walk as little as possible.) Yes, he supported her financially, but it was not enough . This old lady raised her son alone, since her husband died and gave him the best, that made him the famous doctor at that time, but he forgot about it. I love my mom very much, I can’t even imagine how I can leave my mother in such a difficult situation. This old woman is a great example of sincere mother’s love that children have to appreciate and value. We have only one mother. The moment ,when old Frau Jordan made herself to lie her son ,because she didn’t want  to bother and make  him mad for some reasons, made me so upset and Leo had me feel even angry. Another scary moment was when old Fraun Jordan was afraid of her son. Probably I was shocked by this story, because in my country I could barely see lonely old people, since we had a tradition, that the youngest son was supposed to live with parents forever and would never leave the family. Therefore we don’t have nursing homes or homes for elder people, because all old people are being taken care by their kids. I believe that even in Germany children used to treat their parents better two-four centuries ago. I don’t want to generalize this situation for everyone in the twentieth century in Germany.

Another woman, who was inferior in this story, was Franziska ( Leo’s wife). She could do everything that would never make him sad and hurt his reputation.(“ More importantly  she didn’t dare reveal to the doctor who she was and who the old woman was, because that would only have hurt Leo’s reputation, and protecting Leo’s reputation was also in Franziska’s best interest.) I believe she loved him a lot, but he didn’t deserve, he was very selfish. Also I could notice that Leo didn’t even consider his wife opinion about anything.

I think  even nowadays only a woman can still suffer like that, because women are very emotional ,and even when women can hide their feelings, they suffer inside…

I’m glad if males  can get a chance to read this story, maybe they can learn something from this story: how to treat a mother and a wife.