Significance of the Title

The title Mother's Day is gently ironic. 'Mother's Day' is normally the one day set aside to honour mothers with love, gifts and gratitude — yet in the Pearson household the mother is honoured on no day at all; she is simply used. The title draws attention to this gap between what a mother deserves and what she actually receives. By the end of the play the household does, in a sense, finally give Mrs Pearson her 'day' — a day on which she is at last noticed, respected and made a fuss of. The …