Mary Wilkins Freeman was born, raised and spent the majority of her
life in Puritan rural New England. This scene had a huge impact on her
writing. Most of her novels and short stories had the ability to depict that
lifestyle perfectly. One of the best examples of this is her story “A New
England Nun.” (Fiction)
The main characters in this story are Louisa Ellis and Joe Dagget.
Other important characters are Caesar, the dog, and Lily Dyer. Louisa is
described as very dainty, precise, and methodical. She lives alone in her
small house and rarely goes to town. When we first meet her, she is sewing
her wedding dress. When she gets up to make tea, she places her things down
with much care. She puts on a green apron over her pink one. She uses china
everyday when most people in the village don’t even have any. But she
doesn’t hold herself up on a pedestal. She does these rituals not for necessity,
but for pleasure. When she sews, by hand, she likes to sew a seam and rip it
out for the pure gratification of stitching it back up again. She also enjoys
making essential oils form the fruits and flowers in her garden. She does not
do this for money but to have such nice things in her home. She is the essence
peacefulness and calmness. (Literature)
Her exact opposite is Joe Dagget. He has been engaged to be married
to Louisa for the last fourteen years. He has been in Australia making his
fortune to bring back to his bride-to-be. Although we don’t know exactly what
he was doing, we are lead to believe that it is a very masculine, dirty job. He
is the same. He is very rugged and always slightly dusty. Although he has a
rough exterior, on the inside he is a loving, caring, loyal man. It is made clear
from our first encounter of Joe and Louisa. Even if it was uncomfortable and
stiff, he still comes every day. Early on in the story, the author uses the
symbolism of a sweet love wind to describe their feelings towards each other.
Louisa’s “love song” was very weak. It was not angry, or pathetic, or lonely,
or longing. It had “never more than murmured.” As opposed to Joe’s song,
which was loud, strong and robust. But his song “had another name.” That is
birthday present. She wanted her pure femininity to show through in this picture, so she was depicted in common clothing, with a sultry look, lounging against a red pillow, with her hair
evidence in the kitchen the women take notice of a quilt that is not finished, “She was
story, first impressions, what he thinks of himself, what others think of him, and what
work and is about to get married. The only work she has done is when
this idea. He is sympathetic, kind, and generous, but when his motives are questioned, he
secretly wore panty hose and a brassiere underneath his suits. He mentions finding pleasure in
going to college and she comes home once in awhile. When she goes home she expects her mom
“a practical man, rough and ready in his manners and quick to decry any appearance of affectation in others…a great improviser, ever willing to “have a go” at anything, but willing too to be content with a task done in a way that is “near enough”.… He swears hard and consistently, gambles heavily and often, and drinks deeply on occasion.… He is a “hard case”, sceptical about the value of religion and intellectual and cultural pursuits
from the groom's family that had carried her from her home. The bride now says
The story begins with Mrs. Washington hurling herself into the closet and flinging out clothes that she had purchased for her husband, only after going through his pockets. Unfortunately she does not find what she was
has the gentle heart of a woman but is not inconsistent as is the way
Chanticleer a nice poor old guy, father of two daughters, and husband of many wives. The article “Nun’s Priest’s Tale” states, “The protagonist of this mock-heroic story is Chanticleer, a rooster with seven wives, foremost among them the hen Pertelote. Pertelote dismisses Chanticleer's dream of being attacked and tells him to go about his business.” Chanticleer has one very close wife, and he tells her what he dreamt but she just thinks that he is sick. The rooster believes his dream means something and he will not stop till he finds out what that is. Every Sunday the cock would sing like no other rooster, coming from a father who too sang astonishing. One day he dreamt about a fox trying kill him, and said “One should never be too careless
It was about seven o'clock, scarcely light in the cold bedroom. Whiston lay still and looked at his wife. She was a pretty little thing, with her fleecy, short black hair all tousled. He watched her as she dressed quickly, flicking her small, delightful limbs, throwing her clothes about her. Her slovenliness and untidiness did not trouble him. When she picked up the edge of her petticoat, ripped off a torn string of white lace, and flung it on the dressing-table, her careless abandon made his spirit glow. (238)
He does not judge others for their differences. He is very respectful to those around him just like I am. We are both very caring and give great advice. We are both very friendly in our own ways. We are both strong willed people and we do not go against our word. We are both very helpful and take others feelings into consideration. He always is very positive and kind like I am. We are very thoughtful when it comes to helping others.