Girl Power!

            While reading “The Revolt of Mother” and “A New England Nun”, I wanted to shout, “You go girl!” at the end of each story. The way that the women in the stories and don’t conform to societal norms is very empowering and inspiring. While both women do the things that women in New England were expected to do like cook, clean, and take care of other business around the house, they do not do so simply because it was is expected of them.

            In “The Revolt of Mother,” Sarah makes pie for her husband and makes sure that all of his needs are met. However, she does not do this simply because it is what he expects of her. I believe that Sarah has an agenda. Sarah knows that her husband promised her a new house, just as she promised to be a good wife. I believe that she continues to fulfill her end of the bargain in the hope that he will fulfill his. When this plan doesn’t work, she goes behind her husband’s back and moves into the new barn, showing how adamant she is about having a new house. When her husband returns she still does all of the things her husband expects of her, just in a different location. She had a lot of guts to defy her husband in this manner. I believe Freeman is trying to show through Sarah that women can still do the things expected of them while also taking action and empowering themselves.

            In “A New England Nun,” Louisa chooses to remain an unmarried woman in order to keep her own happiness rather than to conform to societal norms. In New England at the time “A New England Nun” was published it was unheard of for a woman to choose to be a spinster. However, Louisa deeply enjoyed her life as a single woman. She loved doing chores around the house simply for her own pleasure. She didn’t want to be forced to do these chores for someone else or be judged because she enjoyed doing them so much. Louisa choosing her own happiness rather than conforming to societal norms is Freeman’s way of showing that a woman can enjoy an independent life and doesn’t need a man to make her happy.

            Overall Mary Wilkins Freeman empowers women through her story’s, showing how societal norms are not always adhered to simply because they are norms but rather because women have an agenda or gain deep pleasure from these acts. She suggests that women actually have a large amount of power, even outside of the home through her stories, a theme that reminds me of this song... 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dS1ZW0FdoIU