Introduction. In modern Mordovian literary studies, there is an active interest in gender issues – the uniqueness of women's creativity, the peculiarities of the reception of the female mentality in artistic discourse, and the individual creative representation of female images. The purpose of the work – to reveal the specifics of the depiction of the image of the mother in the novel by E. Chetvergov “Vanineˮ (“Vanechkaˮ). Research materials and methods. The choice of research material is determined by both the original genre form of the novel (novel of parenting) and the significance of the image of the mother in the poetic structure of the novel. To achieve the goal, traditional methods of literary research (structural-semantic, the method of holistic analysis of the literary text), a gender approach were used. Research results, discussion. The main character of Akulina Valdaeva's novel “Vanechkaˮ is depicted against the backdrop of broad socio-historical events. She embodies the typical portrait of a peasant woman, a widow, and reflects the best traits of an Erzya woman: hard work, kindness, self-sacrifice, humanism, adherence to the ethnic moral code, and folk traditions. The primary emphasis is on her maternal nature. Motherhood later becomes a defining theme for Cooley. The work implicitly conveys the idea of selfless maternal love and the parable of a mother's service to her son. The wrong choice of educational methods leads to negative consequences – the leveling of traditional ethnic concepts, universal human values, and the moral degradation of Vanechka. Conclusion. In E. Chetvergov's individual creative approach, motherhood is perceived as one of the components of female identity, the highest value. In his novel “Vanechkaˮ he represents the type of mother who values the concepts of family, clan, and children. She selflessly loves her son, but undermines traditional methods of upbringing, which leads to family drama. The image of Akulina Valdaeva embodies the life-giving principle, while simultaneously reflecting the national picture of the world, the ideological philosophy of the people, and the socio-political events of the 20th century.