Ann Veronica Sparknotes

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Ann Veronica is a twenty-two-year-old woman who lives with her undeniably strict father, Mr. Stanley. The fact that Ann Veronica’s father is so strict may be the reasoning as to why she is compelled to rebel against his demands and wants to become a “new woman”. For example, in the beginning chapters on the novel, readers quickly discover Ann Veronica’s intense desire to attend the Fadden Dance, which is a ball in London. Of course, her father forbids her from attending the ball despite her asking him several times. Mr. Stanley even goes as far as physically locking Ann Veronica in the house to prevent her from attending the ball. This is a major turning point in the novel for Ann Veronica; this is in fact the point in which she realizes that she yearns for independence and wants to truly become a new woman. So, Ann Veronica leaves her home in Morningside Park to live on her own in an apartment in London. However, once she arrives in London, Ann Veronica quickly learns that it is not exactly as easy as she thought it would be to find employment as a woman in London. So of course, she is hurting for money. Luckily for Ann Veronica, Mr. Ramage, a hot-blooded womanizer who sees Ann Veronica in a sexual way, offers her 40 pounds and she accepts not knowing that she has compromised what she’s come to London in the first place for: her independence. However, with the money Ann Veronica is able to begin her studies in biology at the Central Imperial College (she is now living her dream). At the Central Imperial College, Ann Veronica meets and falls in love with her biology professor, Capes. Eventually, Ramage forces himself onto Ann Veronica and rapes her. Being of course distraught over this terrible incident, Ann Veronica decides to te...

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...cted to be a good wife and mother. It is evident throughout the novel that Ann Veronica wants to desperately escape the wrappered life because she says the phrase in several instances. In fact, the narrorator of the novel states that “She (Ann Veronica) saw her life before her robbed of all generous illusions, the wrappered life forever, vistas of dull responses, crises of make-believe, years of exacting mutual disregard in a misty garden of the fine sentiments.” This section makes a clear statement is strong verification that Ann Veronica does not want the wrappered life. She even goes on to say “But does a woman get anything better from a man? Perhaps every woman conceals herself from a man perforce!...” As a reader, this is a very sad statement because she is going against all of the rights that she has so strongly fought for and is accepting the wrappered life.

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