A New England Nun By Mary Toned Old Christian Woman

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Recommended: The portrayal of women in 19th century literature

Tyler Radcliffe
Mrs. Lowe
English 236
18 May 2017
Who Runs the World? The fight for equality is a battle waged by those who have been stomped down by society as a whole. One of the biggest of the oppressed throughout recent history is women, of every variety, class, and skin color. They were thought of as property, something that could not take care of or fend for itself. This was the image of how most men and society as a whole viewed women, but it could not be further from the truth. Many literature pieces throughout the realism and modernism changed the roles of women in society, or at least made an attempt to show the world through an independent woman’s eyes. These stories such as “A New England Nun” or “The Revolt of Mother” by Mary …show more content…

This is what the time periods were about, equality and acceptance or at least moving towards them. Authors and readers alike would use literature in order to spread their views with the world. As well this literature could be used to influence change in societal structures and the views of women themselves. In the realism story “A New England Nun” by Mary Eleanor Wilkins Freeman a young woman, named Louisa Ellis, is betrothed to a young man who is going away to find a job in order to sustain his new family when he returns. However, this takes over fourteen years for him to return ready to marry, or so it seems. When he returns Louisa discovers that he is cheating on her with a woman named Lily Dyer. When she discovers this she does not tell him, she simply breaks off the engagement and begins to move on immediately. Some may assume that this is because she did not feel for cheaters or liars but this is not necessarily the case. Many speculate the true reason behind this is due to the fact that …show more content…

This went forward but backwards at the same time. She was immensely stubborn and thought of as a fool for her beliefs, this story is “A High Toned Old Christian Woman” by Wallace Stevens. This story went away from the original idea that women had to break free of everything to be independent and rather focused on self determination and sticking by beliefs. In the story the narrator blatantly insults the woman for believing in Christianity and having her set beliefs. This attitude is relevant for the time for modernism was about breaking away from religion and having this self determination attitude, not relying on religion to push people through life rather making a path for themselves. This ideal, was not present in everyone’s life and people could continue to believe what they wish and the same went for the high toned old christian woman in the story. This showed the opposite side of equality for women had the choice to on how their lives go and this old woman decided to stick by her religion and faith, not letting anyone tell her to believe otherwise. Her stickin up for her belief is still feminism and voicing her own opinion because while social and economic norms shift around her, her faith remains. This speaks to feminists in a way the other stories do not. While the others focus

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