Aunt Martha

[Waterston_Fan]

Wanted to ask you guys about Aunt Martha...

Do you guys think maybe Aunt Martha disapproved of June marrying Ward as to why she shows a lack of repsect towards him?

Like in the episodes that she was there she always said to Wally even and maybe Beaver, 'You look more like a Bronson everyday'. She doesn't really talk to him much and says something about Uncle Wilber but we don't talk about him since he married a French girl.

Could it be that the Bronson family disapproved of Wilber marrying the French Girl? They have since disowned him?

I do think that Martha doesn't like Ward...

I know in the last episode we see her, she understood why Beaver changed his mind. Forgot how someone put it but the way I want to explain it is, she backed off or chilled a bit.

[bingbangbaby]

Hmmm, interesting observation. I never felt that Aunt Martha disapproved of Ward, but I suppose you could be right. I always thought those comments about looking more and more like a Bronson was strong family pride more than anything. True, sort of in-your-face pride, but I've seen that before with older relatives.

[tdr]

I don't think Aunt Martha 'disapproved' of Ward or that she (and perhaps other Bronsons) had earlier disapproved of June marrying Ward, but she did somewhat exemplify fading societal ideas, such as family background determines 'position.' That's why she thought telling the boys they're 'looking more like a Bronson' was about the highest compliment she thought she could give them. In her first appearance, she did make a rather snide remark to Ward; something like, "This is a very nice place you have here, Ward. You must be doing very well-- now." Perhaps she didn't think ner niece marrying Ward was like her marrying a ditch-digger or a garbageman [heaven forbid!], but rather June could have improved her standing by marrying the son of a big corporate president or into an Ivy League family. Instead Ward, though well-learned, was (apparently) from a midwestern farm family. So even though Ward was to be commended for improving his station in life, it still wasn't like June married a Harvard lawyer [don't bring Green Acres into this :lol: ], as Aunt Martha may have hoped.