Louisa Ellis is the main protagonist in Mary E. Wilkins Freeman’s 1891 short story “A New English Nun”. Louisa is described as a quiet lady who is known to have a pretty manner and a soft grace. Louisa has a fiancé named Joe Dagget who left her for fourteen years in search of his fortune. During the years of Joe’s absences, Louisa has fallen into a particular routine that completely enclosed her from the outside world. Her typical routine has left her unwilling to accept changes in her life. Louisa remains stubborn in keeping her former way of life and that led to the conflict that is present in the story.
Louisa is a dynamic character who undergone changes within the story. Before Joe departed for his voyage, Louisa considered herself like a young girl in love and she accepted Joe Dagget with no hesitation. “Just at that time, gently acquiescing with and falling into the
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natural drift of girlhood, she had seen marriage ahead as a reasonable feature and a probable desirability of life”(657). However, fourteen years later, Louisa is caught in the consternation of Joe Dagget's return and finds her doing just fine without the appearance of her only lover. Regardless of the certainty fourteen years ago to the engagement, the life Louisa adapted to had turned her away from the marriage. However at the end, Louisa made up her mind and disengage herself when she realized that she cannot give up her usual routine and enter a completely different life. The main conflict Louisa progressed through in the story occurs internally. Although Louisa was aware of the upcoming wedding, she still becomes temporized about the fact that she is getting married. “When Joe came she had been expecting him... but she was as much surprised and taken aback as if she never thought of it” (657). Louisa’s main problem occurs that she is reluctant to leave her former life and to get married because she worries that her dominance over her life would be wrestled away from her. Louisa efficiently dealt with her internal conflict.
Louisa’s decision overturns the entire outcome of her future. Her choices are to get married and give up her former life or disengage herself and live on her former life; turning of the engagement meant that she would lose her only lover. Yet, Louisa chose to continue her former life and make this affair a past event. Louisa considers her final choice to be the best for her. “...[Louisa] feel like a queen who, after fearing lest her domain be wrested away from her, sees it firmly insured in her possession”(661).
Louisa is a loyal and faithful woman. She waited for Joe Dagget for fourteen years without any complaints or questions. Louisa learned how to be optimistic out of the difficult times. When her mother and brother passed away, she continues to live her life by herself. She quickly moves on and she is thankful for her final choice. “She gazed ahead through a long reach of future days strung together like pearls in a rosary, every one like the others and all smooth and flawless and innocent, and her heart went up in thankfulness”
(661). For years, Louisa has lived a lonely life without interruptions. She stays isolated from all social life and only focused on her life in her house. There are no textual clues about Louisa is focussing on the goodness of getting married. Louisa continuously ponders about the effects of getting married. Louisa focused on the spoiled content of getting marry, such as taking care of Joe’s rigours and feeble old mother (657). If Louisa submits to the marriage, she has the chance to become more socialized and decamp from her isolated island. Louisa’s fear over changes affected the whole outcome of the story. It is uncertain to say if Louisa has chosen the right choice. Fearless to say, regardless of which life Louisa chose after all, it would change her mindset. Louisa is afraid of losing her own life because of the interruption from the outside world may dominate her life after the marriage. Since Louisa chose to continue her former life, she is no longer bothered by the thought of losing her dominance over her life. The disengaged marriage truly secured her life in her possession and made her perceives as a queen in her own world.
Another known regional writer from this time period is Mary Wilkins Freeman. Similar to Jewett, her texts use the New England geographical setting. Mary Wilkins Freeman’s short stories and novels are local color examples of the New England area in which she was born. Her works include the New England dialects and traits, components of the area’s Puritan roots, and portrayals of life in rural and penurious New England. During the time of Freeman’s writing, many farmers had begun to move west, particularly because of the spread of railroads. This caused the rural New England population to drop tremendously. Freeman’s protagonists are mainly elderly women or young women of marriageable age of families who remained behind in this New England post-Civil War setting.
Catharine Maria Sedgewick’s heroine and title character of Hope Leslie does not convey the expected behaviors of a woman living in 17th century Puritan society. Hope Leslie is not a passive young woman that relies on the Bible for all advice and guidance. She does not stay quiet if something is on her mind. She refuses to allow the innocent to receive persecution for the wrong reasons. Hope is assertive, aggressive, courageous, bold, and quite outspoken. The characteristics that she portrays are atypical to those portrayed by 17th century women. Instead, Hope’s attitude and behavior more closely resemble that of a female from the 21st century living in an era not meant for her.
With this in mind, it is evident that the character of this short story lives a life of structure, precision, and order, which presents itself as a major clue for her having this condition based on the disorders symptoms. It can also be visibly seen that Louisa is quite upset when the order in her house is disturbed as she is constantly worrying about something being out of place or appearing untidy, as well as her constantly cleaning up and reorganizing her possessions after Joe Dagget comes to visit her. For example, while Louisa and Joe are attempting to have a conversation about the weather, work, and family life, Joe picks up the books on the table and puts them back in the wrong order, which consequently makes Louisa nervous and anxious to arrange the books back in their original proper order.
Evelina and Northanger Abbey both belong in the 18th-century literature syllabus because they are good examples of how two different vehicles used to tell a story—a “history,” told in epistolary form, and a witty, tongue-in-cheek narrative—can completely transform the tone of a piece. On the surface, these are two novels about young women growing up in Europe during the18th century. They are both told with humor, they both offer great insight into the mind of their observant female leads, and they both give the reader a glimpse into the manners and customs of the time. On a deeper level, however, the differences between the two texts lie in the manner in which the story is told—and this comparison point is where the reader truly gleans a richer, fuller view of females coming-of-age in the 18th century.
Grace King's The Little Convent Girl is an excellent example of post-Civil War realism incorporating a trick-ending. In this local color short story, King methodically lures the reader into a false belief that her story is about an insignificant and nameless young girl who, after twelve years seclusion in a convent, is exposed to the fervor and excitement of a steamboat trip down the Mississippi River. The success of Ms. King's trick-ending is achieved through three basic elements; 1) de-emphasizing the importance of the main character, 2) tidbits of information followed by wordy misdirection, and 3) a false climax.
Louise, the unfortunate spouse of Brently Mallard dies of a supposed “heart disease.” Upon the doctor’s diagnosis, it is the death of a “joy that kills.” This is a paradox of happiness resulting into a dreadful ending. Nevertheless, in reality it is actually the other way around. Of which, is the irony of Louise dying due to her suffering from a massive amount of depression knowing her husband is not dead, but alive. This is the prime example to show how women are unfairly treated. If it is logical enough for a wife to be this jovial about her husband’s mournful state of life then she must be in a marriage of never-ending nightmares. This shows how terribly the wife is being exploited due her gender in the relationship. As a result of a female being treated or perceived in such a manner, she will often times lose herself like the “girl
Mrs. Mallard’s repressed married life is a secret that she keeps to herself. She is not open and honest with her sister Josephine who has shown nothing but concern. This is clearly evident in the great care that her sister and husband’s friend Richard show to break the news of her husband’s tragic death as gently as they can. They think that she is so much in love with him that hearing the news of his death would aggravate her poor heart condition and lead to death. Little do they know that she did not love him dearly at all and in fact took the news in a very positive way, opening her arms to welcome a new life without her husband. This can be seen in the fact that when she storms into her room and her focus shifts drastically from that of her husband’s death to nature that is symbolic of new life and possibilities awaiting her. Her senses came to life; they come alive to the beauty in the nature. Her eyes could reach the vastness of the sky; she could smell the delicious breath of rain in the air; and ears became attentive to a song f...
In her autobiography, “The Life of an Ordinary Woman, Anne Ellis describes just that; the life of an ordinary woman. Ellis reveals much about her early—ordinary if you will—life during the nineteenth-century. She describes what daily life was like, living a pioneer-like lifestyle. Her memoir is ‘Ordinary’ as it is full of many occurrences that the average woman experiences. Such as taking care of her children, cleaning, cooking the—world’s greatest—meals. It also contains many themes such as dysfunctional families, insensitive men, and negligent parents that are seen in modern life. The life of Anne Ellis is relatable. Her life is relatable to modern day life, however, very different.
Looking back on the death of Larissa’s son, Zebedee Breeze, Lorraine examines Larissa’s response to the passing of her child. Lorraine says, “I never saw her cry that day or any other. She never mentioned her sons.” (Senior 311). This statement from Lorraine shows how even though Larissa was devastated by the news of her son’s passing, she had to keep going. Women in Larissa’s position did not have the luxury of stopping everything to grieve. While someone in Lorraine’s position could take time to grieve and recover from the loss of a loved one, Larissa was expected to keep working despite the grief she felt. One of the saddest things about Zebedee’s passing, was that Larissa had to leave him and was not able to stay with her family because she had to take care of other families. Not only did Larissa have the strength to move on and keep working after her son’s passing, Larissa and other women like her also had no choice but to leave their families in order to find a way to support them. As a child, Lorraine did not understand the strength Larissa must have had to leave her family to take care of someone else’s
As part of the Sherlock Holmes series, the short story, “A Scandal in Bohemia,” written by Arthur Conan Doyle, introduces the Victorian concept , “The New Woman.” The term “New Woman” describes noncomformist females as smart, educated, independent, and self-reliant. These women decided that they did not want to get entrapped into the stereotypical “Angel of the House.” The New Woman concept did not only apply to middle class women, but factory and office workers. These women put off marriage to make themselves an individual. The New Woman concept made a major impact in social changes that redefined gender roles, consolidating women’s rights, and overcoming masculine supremacy. This new woman also appeared in literature that involved crime
She would not have grieved over someone she did not love. Even in the heat of her passion, she thinks about her lost love. She knew that she would weep again when she saw the kind, tender hands folded in death; the face that had never looked safe with love upon her, fixed and gray and dead. Her love may not have been the greatest love of all time, but it was still love. Marriage was not kind to Mrs. Mallard, her life was dull and not worth living, her face showed the years of repression.
Louisa (nicknamed Lou) Clark is a 26-year-old working-class girl. Louisa is described as a very unique character by the author. Up until she was fourteen, Louisa preferred boy’s clothes over girls and then went on to discover her own one of a kind style. Her father describes her as a character and her mother refers to her as an individual. Louisa is the type of woman who isn’t afraid to speak her mind regardless. Before losing her job, she worked for Frank for the last six years of her life at the Buttered Bun until he announced that he was returning to Australia to care for his ill father. Louisa becomes desperate for another job and would be willing to do anything. After, many failed attempts, she lands a position as a “care assistant” to a sharp, clever, wealthy and angry 35-year-old man named Will Traynor, who has spent the last two years of his life as a
Most women in Mrs Mallard’s situation were expected to be upset at the news of her husbands death, and they would worry more about her heart trouble, since the news could worsen her condition. However, her reaction is very different. At first she gets emotional and cries in front of her sister and her husbands friend, Richard. A little after, Mrs. Mallard finally sees an opportunity of freedom from her husbands death. She is crying in her bedroom, but then she starts to think of the freedom that she now has in her hands. “When she abandoned herse...
In this short “Louisa please come home” By Shirley Jackson is about a girl named Louisa cocky because she only thinks about herself and no one else. My first piece of evidence is the day she ran away. When she ran away she bought a new hat for herself. This seems like that she was happy on the she left. Another piece of evidence I had was when Louisa Lied to Mrs peacock about herself, and who she really was and where she came from . She doesn't care about other people like her family. She left on her sister's wedding because she wanted them to focus on her. She didn't care about her sister or what could happen on the day of her sister's wedding. This is why Louisa is very cocky she doesn't like anyone in her family and only thinks about herself.
Mr. Bounderby is yet another man in Louisa's life who expects her to conform to the system implemented by men in society. This young girl, more than half his junior, appeals to Josiah Bounderby and soon they wed.