Can anyone think of a good mother figure in S&S? They seem to be either loving but silly and ineffectual, or actively malevolent. Of course this has always been a common device in literature, since it makes a hero or heroine's story more interesting if they have to rely on themselves without the support of good parents. But there's usually a substitute wise person or mentor, and this book doesn't seem to have any at all.
On a related note, I've always felt sorry for little Harry Dashwood, IMO the worst victim of bad mothering. Used by his own parents to increase their wealth, denied the company of his aunts and future cousins, hated for two hundred years by readers for inheriting all that money, and he's barely four years old! All this, and Fanny in charge of the nursery.