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Analysis Of Mary Wilkins Freeman's The New England Nun

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In Mary E. Wilkins Freeman’s short story “The New England Nun” The protagonist Louisa is faced with being pressured by society to play the role of a women. Women in this particular century had a certain role in life . They were either wives or mothers who cooked and cleaned. Louisa conformed to this role even without the pressures of a family. Although many women at the time we're starting to reject house work as a way to free themselves . Freeman uses Louisa to show a women who went against society's norms and was content with her own solitude.
Louisa Ellis’s actions and choices she’s made in her life all revolve around this reoccurring theme. Readers are instantly introduced to the way Louisa has lived her life for the past 14 years.Joe …show more content…

The disorder Joe created and the lack of connection between them foreshadows the destruction Joe will have in Louisa’s life of solitude. “ A little yellow canary that had been asleep in his green cage at the south window woke up and fluttered wildly , beating his little yellow wings against the wires. He always did so when Joe Dagget came into the room (Freeman,716). The yellow canary was sort of alarming Louisa of Joe. Possibly of what he could bring to the future or actually do to her future. Since his return their seemed to be some tension between them. Their speech didn't exactly match as well as him knocking over her things as he made his way out. “Going out, he stumbled over a rug, and trying to recover himself, hit Louisa's work-basket on the table, and knocked it on the floor.He looked at Louisa, then at the rolling spools; he ducked himself awkwardly toward them, but she stopped him. " Never mind," said she I'll pick them up after you're gone."” (Freeman,717). Him knocking over her sewing basket symbolizes the destruction hr’s going to have in Louisa’s life. Just from their first meeting in 14 years, where their relationship is going is foreshadowed. Louisa is soon told a decision that could ruin her way of

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