How was Willie's mom?

We don't know too much about William's mother except that she is abusive both emotionally and physically. She beats him daily with a thick leather belt and is so convinced that this is perfectly normal that she sends the belt in Willie's bag of things when he is evacuated. She is what her neighbors call a "Bible thumper" and uses her religious fervor to terrorize Willie. She admonishes him for smiling or talking and is enraged when she learns he has been spending his Bible study time listening to the verses rather than learning by rote. After leaving Willie and his baby sister locked in the cellar with no food or water, she commits suicide a month later. Although she is somewhat of an antagonist in the book, she is not rendered two-dimensionally. We are also able to feel compassion for her in the book, understanding, as Tom points out to Will, that she is a mentally ill person who has most likely had a very sad life. Unfortunately, she has dealt with her pain by becoming abusive.