Preview

Mary E. Wilkins Freeman's A New England Nun: Louisa's Choices

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
800 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Mary E. Wilkins Freeman's A New England Nun: Louisa's Choices
At the introduction of Joe Dagget in the story, Louisa’s little yellow canary suddenly begins flapping its wings violently against the wire cage. Does the canary have a feeling that Joe is capable of bringing a change to our feathered friend’s pleasant life? Is the canary a symbol of the feelings that Louisa herself is harboring within about Joe’s return (205, 7)? Freeman mentions that when Joe enters he seems to fill up the entire room. It seems to Louisa that she fears a disruption in her delicate lifestyle. In many ways Louisa seems like she herself is a canary locked in a cage, but she has locked herself in waiting for Joe’s return. While waiting for Joe, however, she has grown comfortable in her lonely life. Louisa and Joe begin talking about Lily Dyer’s taking such great care of his mother while he was away, then embarrassed he begins looking through the magazines on her table. However, when he put the album on top of the gift-book it bothered Louisa so much that she had to change their position. What difference did it make which book was on top? Were the books significant to Louisa’s life (206, M-B)? Apparently, Louisa had grown accustomed to her perfectly organized life. She was not used to the delicate balance of her things being disturbed. It also seems that she was not used to having guests. The organization of not only the books on the table, but of her entire house is a symbol of the life she has created for herself while Joe was away. She has not had to care for anyone except for her pets, and has grown quite comfortable living a peaceful little life. Joe had made a promise to Louisa to marry her after he returned from fortune seeking and that is exactly what he intends to do. Louisa, however, has almost forgotten about the idea of marriage having grown so comfortable with her daily routines. She fears the idea of leaving her house to live with Joe. Why is she so afraid to leave her little house? Why isn’t she happy to have

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Nell learns an incredible number of life skills from her primer. Nell was completely illiterate before she had this book. Then, after just a few months with it ¨she found she could often read the words more quickly than the book spoke them” to her (184). This shows how much this book had an affect…

    • 936 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    For the reader, it is odd to be immediately presented with this catalog of belongings, but O'Brien has a clear purpose in introducing his characters in this manner. In the midst of these laundry lists of articles we also get the revelation of key plot points, such as when…

    • 1319 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The canary and its cage are symbolic of both Mrs. Wright and her life. The bird directly represents Mrs. Wright in the way that she has been forced to live. The cage symbolizes her life in the way that it restricts canary held captive inside. This connection is evident when Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters discover the canary. Upon this finding Mrs. Hale relates the bird to Mrs. Wright by stating, "She-come to think of it, she was kind of like a bird herself-real sweet and pretty, but kind of timid and-fluttery" (1:1:107). It can be seen here that apparently Minnie Foster was a different woman once she was married to John Wright. Before their marriage, she was a girl who sang in the choir and wore attractive clothing. The canary, like Minnie Foster, sang beautifully and was incredibly lively. However, following her marriage to John Wright, she was forced to live a life comparable to that of the caged bird. Her freedom of the outside world was revoked and she had to live a life of seclusion.…

    • 750 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The image of home life in Why I live at the P.O, Eudora Welty depicts the damage to one’s feelings of self worth in response to the sense of belonging in a family. Sister, who is the narrator in Why I live at the P.O.,(Welty) is disturbed when her sister, Stella Rondo returns homes with an adopted child, Shirley-T, after separating from her husband (Welty). Sister has lived in her sister’s, Stella Rondo’s shadow her entire life. Over the years, resentment and jealously has manifested in Sister towards her sister Stella Rondo. The rest of the family is delighted to see Stella Rondo and the child. Sister makes the assumption that Shirley-T is the biological child of Stella and her husband (Welty). The story is told from Sisters twisted point of view seeking sympathy from her readers. As the story begins, she immediately builds her case against her family revealing past hurt, judgment, and jealousy which cause the family to have a communication break down throughout the entire story. In Why I live at the P.O., Eudora Welty uses diction,…

    • 963 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In 1841, Dorothea Dix taught Sunday School at a women’s prison, and noticed the horrible conditions they were living in. She went around to other prisons, observing their living conditions, before making a document and presenting it to the Massachusetts legislature. This made the prison budgets larger, but Dorothea continued going around the states and establishing mental asylums. She even traveled to Europe, and met with Pope Pius IX, and convinced him to construct a new hospital for the mentally ill.…

    • 81 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Puritans, the people upon a hill of Christian faith, were known for their strict religious regimen, and thus often perceived as monotonous. Likewise, in Hawthorne’s Scarlet Letter, the author expresses his accusatory and judgmental view of the Puritan community mostly through the usage of selective detail, dismal and contemptuous diction; as well, he expresses his view of the Puritan community through his grim and suspenseful tone.…

    • 868 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    “In Heaven’s own time, a new truth would be revealed, in order to establish the whole relation between man and woman on a surer ground of mutual happiness” (ch.24).The definition of feminism would be women are inherently equal to men and deserve equal rights and opportunities. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s, The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne is the key example for feminism in the novel. In Puritan times, women were thought of as lesser than men. Women’s purposes were to raise children and give them good morals and values. Women did not have jobs; they wore the plainest clothes, and sat quietly by their husbands’ sides. Passion and happiness were considered to be a sin in the Puritan faith. Hester Prynne has to overcome many obstacles in the novel, emotionally, socially, and psychologically. Living in a Puritan Society, where they had strict rules that everyone had to abide by, the society showed that men overruled women, and women were subjects to men. Hester’s place within Puritan society changes within the novel, where she defies male authority.…

    • 1297 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Canary

    • 297 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In Susan Glaspell’s play “Trifles” there is a lot of symbolism of the pet canary to Minnie Foster. The life of the canary symbolizes Mrs. Wright previous life as Minnie Foster. The town’s people knew Minnie Foster as a lively, free woman, and according to Mrs. Hale, “Minnie was kind of like a bird herself- real sweet and pretty.” (Glasphell, 923) Minnie Foster use to sing and be happy, like a canary. Once Minnie married John Wright her canary like spirit died. Mrs. Wright was the complete opposite of Minnie Foster. Mrs. Wright did not sing, she was not happy, and she was isolated. Mrs. Wright pet canary symbolized her only connection to her past life as Minnie Foster and the happiness her once embodied. The canary also represented Mrs. Wright sanity. Mrs. Wright did not have any children and her husband was a cold man. She was lonely and her only companion was her pet canary. As long as she had the canary, Mrs. Wright would have some kind of happiness and her sanity. Mr. Wright did not like the bird and wrung Mrs. Wright beloved canary’s neck. “Wright wouldn’t like the bird- a thing that sang she used to sing. He killed that, too.” (Glashell, 924) The death of the canary represents Mrs. Wright metal breakdown. Her husband did not simply kill a bird. He killed her only companion, her happiness, and sanity in killing the canary. The murder of the canary symbolizes Mrs. Wright breaking point with her husband. Mrs. Wright’s husband killed everything good in her life by killing the canary. In return, Mrs. Wright killed her husband. The murder of the canary also symbolizes Mrs. Wright justification for killing her husband. He killed her happiness, so she killed…

    • 297 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Jean Fagan Yellin, in her essay “The Scarlet Letter and the Antislavery Feminists,” argues that The Scarlet Letter’s motifs and language reject the doctrines of the antislavery feminists and instead reinforce patriarchal norms and ideas. Yellin’s purpose is to reveal Hawthorne’s rejection of feminist ideals in order to help her readers examine how The Scarlet Letter upholds the patriarchal status quo of Hawthorne’s era. Yellin convincingly employs ample text evidence to explain how language used in the novel represents the continuation of patriarchal structures, as well as employing allusions and metaphors to show how the town views Hester in terms of her womanhood and how the denial of Hester’s…

    • 1509 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mrs. Hale is not so different from Mrs. Wright having both grown up together and lived in the same town. The real difference lies in the people they surround themselves with. While both women are married Mrs. Hale has children and also a group of friends. Mrs. Wright only has Mr. Wright, a cold and hard man, and a little songbird. Glaspell then writes, "MRS. HALE [Her own feeling not interrupted.] If there'd been years and years of nothing, then a bird to sing to you, it would be awful--still, after the bird was still." (Glaspell) Mrs. Hale is now able to understand Mrs. Wright and what it was that drove her to commit murder. It is through this comprehension that compassion for Mrs. Wright's situation is born. Mrs. Hale is only now able to truly fathom the hopelessness of Mrs. Wright's isolation and the horror she must've felt at the birds death. With having only a tiny bird to bring light into your otherwise gloomy life it is very easy to see how someone might form an unnatural attachment to it. Then to face your isolation alone without even the tiny bird you called your friend would be…

    • 587 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    It is very plain, brown, with three shelves facing [her], for books. One of the shelves is full of textbooks; another one has some writing paper and pens; the third one, the bottom one is empty.” “[Marina] uses grey school blankets.”… “The other desks are full of decorations and other colourful things.” “Other beds are covered by doonas that girls have bought from home.” The protagonist’s lifelessness is represented in how she is barren of all personality, when she was first given the journal the narrator wanted it to be “A cold and empty book, with no secrets,” To reflect how she felt…

    • 486 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Essay On Mary Shadd Cary

    • 739 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In Canadian history, there is little mention of the influential writers of Afro-Caribbean ancestry who have significantly contributed to shaping our country’s diverse heritage and identity. Even sparser in discussion are Black Canadian women who have challenged how we perceive gender, fiction and race. Mary Ann Shadd Cary was one of these women, for she broke down insurmountable barriers for female writers of colour in North America. For young, black female writers, Shadd and other great writers are role models as pioneers in the craft, brave women who wielded their pens like swords; they cut through the throes of discrimination and oppression with defiance and boldness in their written works.…

    • 739 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Towards the end of the story, we come to realize that Louisa is not a woman who is worried about the convictions of society. Louisa’s pets appear to be minor characters in the narrative, however they are fused into Freeman’s writing to express certain aspects of Louisa’s character and represent the oppression in which she endures. The canary is a representation of how Louisa feels caught in her engagement, while her pet dog represents Louisa’s confinement in the relationship and loner-like personality. After looking beneath the surface and actually understanding what these animals symbolize, the audience can better understand Louisa’s character.…

    • 101 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Thesis For Mary's Room

    • 669 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The epistemic physicalist thesis ‘Mary’s Room’ is a theory based on knowledge that argues against physicalism that was developed by Frank Jackson. Physicalism is the view that the universe, including all that is mental, is entirely physical. The main goal of Mary’s Room theory is to try to establish that there are non-physical properties and attainable knowledge that can be discovered only though conscious experience. In this thought experiment, Mary is described as a very intelligent scientist who is forced to experience the world in a room, from a black and white television monitor. She has never directly experienced color in her entire life although she is capable of such.…

    • 669 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Devices in House of mirth

    • 1481 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Another example of how the setting in this novel plays an important role in helping us deeper understand the novel is when Lily goes to the Girls Club, where it had “first brought her in contact with the dramatic contrasts of life.” Up until that point, Lily had “lived with the abstract conception of poverty” and never thought of the “victims of this fate otherwise than in the mass.” “This discovery gave Lily one of those sudden shocks of pity that sometimes decentralize a…

    • 1481 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays