Analysis Of Louisa Ellis A New England Nun

A nun is known for her dedication to God and service. Her life becomes about self-fulfillment through that dedication. In A New England Nun by Mary Wilkins Freeman, Louisa Ellis becomes a nun to her mundane activities. The story follows how people attach meaning to their lives. She is soft spoken and independent, but she lacks ambition and adventure. Through her ordinary activities, Louisa fills the void of a lack of relationships and accepts a life of separateness.
Louisa has spent a lot of her life by herself. In the beginning of the story her mother and brother have already died. “She was all alone in the world” (472). She has spent fourteen years away from her fiancé, Joe Dagget. Louisa has become accustomed her lifestyle in her

lonely home. Even without her fiancé she felt “for the last seven years had been full of a pleasant peace” (472). All this time in isolation has built the standard in her that this is how life should be lived. She has no problem not getting married because she’s satisfied enough with herself to be alone.
In fact, her house is her sanctuary where she is sheltered from the rest of the world.

She had the “enthusiasm of an artist over the mere order and cleanliness of her solitary house” (473). This is where she created her version of a perfect world. She is fine with solitude because she found household work fulfilling. Louisa enjoys single activities like sewing, preparing tea, and cooking. She felt “these little feminine appurtenances had become…a very part of her personality” (469). She is set in her ways. When she sees Joe for the first time in fourteen years she felt anxious and annoyed with him. When he brought in mud and messed with her books. Joe intruded her shelter and altered it. Afterwards she “felt much as the kind-hearted, a long-suffering owner of the china shop might have done after the exit of the bear” (471). This interaction shows Louisa does not want her alone life

altered.
Louisa does not seem to care about what others think of her. She knows what she likes and is not ashamed of that. For example, her neighbors gossip about her use of china everyday. Louisa is not bothered by it and continues to use the china. Her dog Caesar is out casted and disliked, yet she keeps him. She does not want to change her ways to conform for others.
Her stubbornness is shown when she realizes what marrying Joe brings. She does not want to give up her daily activities. Louisa is not willing to sacrifice her independence for Joe, although Joe shows that he cares for her. She has a deep connection to her possessions. She looked at them as “the faces of dear friends” (472). Since she did not have proper relationships, her possession and house took over her life. She had “throbs of genuine triumph at the sign of the windowpanes…[that] shone like jewels” (473). Louisa was not willing to take chances to risk the things that fulfill her.
Looking at Louisa’s pets says much about the character.

Her yellow canary was peaceful until Joe came. When he arrived it “fluttered wildly, beating his little yellow wings against the wires” (470). This represents how Louisa felt when she realized her life of was about to change. When Louisa broke off her engagement the canary “[had] no need to wake and flutter with wild terror” (476). It could not rest peacefully in its cage just like her. Her scrappy dog Caesar was similar to Louisa because it was not liked by the village and lived in “his secluded hut, shut out from society” (473). Joe admired them both despite these

things.
Louisa breaking off her engagement showed her commitment to her lifestyle. She was upset about Joe’s love for Lily Dryer, her opposite who is strong, young, and liked by the village. Her driving force was not feeling comfortable sharing her life with someone else. Ultimately she rather live “prayerfully numbering her days, like an uncloistered nun” (477) than change.
Louisa Ellis is unlike most literary women of her life. She is not exactly a hero, but she lived a life that was not an option for most women. Louisa desire lead her to chose a life of loneliness, but contentment. Her stubbornness and relationships affected her yearnings.