Monday, January 24, 2011

Mary E. Wilkins Freeman - A New England Nun

     I enjoyed reading “A New England Nun” by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman.  This was a short story that made a lot of sense to me.  One common theme that I found in reading this short story was the idea of freedom and autonomy.  In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries there was a need and want for independence from men.  Many female authors during this time period often focused on these issues in their writing.  Freeman expresses this theme often in the form of a strong-willed character which is normally an aggressive or scandalous woman.  Mary uses this type of form to show the difference between a dependent woman and one that is independent.  Although this is not true in this short story of the character Louisa Ellis.  Louisa Ellis is very soft spoken throughout the short story and she is quite the opposite of scandalous but she loves her independence.  Louisa spent fourteen years waiting for Joe Dagget to return to her but during that time she had both grown up and had grown accustomed to doing things in her own way.  Louisa was very comfortable with her life and with herself.  Joe Dagget had come back unexpectedly and that was understandably conflicting for Louisa.  She was set in her ways and she was not willing to uproot her life for Joe at this time.  She was very unhappy with the idea of leaving her own home, which she had set up to her liking.  Louisa knew that she was about to lose her independence not only to Joe but also to his elderly mother as well.  She was afraid of losing the simple things in her life that made her happy such as sewing a seam.  She knew that Joe’s elderly mother would find things that she loved doing foolish and more than likely Joe would agree with his mother and she would be forced to quit doing the little things that made her happy.  Louisa had come to define herself by her independence.  She developed that independence after being left behind by Joe for fourteen years.  The more she thought about marrying Joe Dagget, the more she feared of losing the stable and comfortable life that she had created for herself.  She thought that Joe would only disrupt the peace and happiness she had discovered for herself.  If she married Joe, she thought that she would be losing herself and her independence that she had found through loneliness.  When Joe returned from Australia, he had taken away Louisa’s peace of mind and her freedom.  Neither Joe nor Louisa would back down from the promise that they had made so many years ago even though neither of them desired to keep this promise.  Louisa was able to regain her freedom after hearing the conversation between Joe and Lily Dyer.  Lily was the one that would break the chains of duty for all involved.  Louisa Ellis may have given up a “normal” married life but she could not have been happier.  All Louisa ever wanted was her own life that was determined by her own mind.  This alone would bring her the independence and freedom that she had come to love and by which she defined herself.  Louisa Ellis had to make a choice between her happiness and marrying Joe.  I think that she done the right thing since he was seeing another woman.  After fourteen years of being engaged and then just calling it off would be hard to do.  Louisa went fourteen years without seeing or talking to Joe.  This was a very interesting story but I really believed at the beginning they were going to get married.  After hearing the conversation between Joe and Lily I am glad that Louisa decided to call things off.      

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