Mary Whitman Research Paper

Mary Eleanor Wilkins Freeman was a prominent 19th century American writer who took full advantage of the American Realism period through her literature. Mary E. Wilkins was born on October 31, 1852 in Randolph, Massachusetts to Warren and Eleanor Wilkins. Randolph was a stereotypical New England town for the period; it consisted of an agricultural community centered on the Calvinist church, which in turn had a profound influence on Mary in her adolescence. In 1873 Mary fell in love with Hanson Tyler, but he did not reciprocate the strong feelings she had. This unrequited love was often reflected in the single women of her earlier short stories. In 1880, Mary reached her first success as a writer in a children’s magazine Wide Awake. After a few years of contributing short stories to various magazine she was finally able to publish her first major book A Humble Romance and other short stories (1887). This was the pinnacle of her writing and after she married in 1897 to the
Mary E. Wilkins died on March 15, 1930 of heart failure. But Mary’s contribution to American literature, specifically that of the progressive feminist movement, cannot be understated. She was awarded the William Dean Howells Medal for distinction in fiction. Mary’s work has since gained renewed interest through the years whenever feminist criticism is being presented.
Mary E. Wilkins had many notable works from A Humble Romance to A New England Nun and other short stories but she is perhaps best known for her short story, The Revolt of Mother. The Revolt of Mother is a short story that focuses on a New England woman, Sarah