A New England Nun Flashcards
by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman — tap or click to flip
Flashcard Review
Flashcards: A New England Nun
What is Louisa Ellis doing when the story opens?
She is peacefully sewing at her sitting-room window on a late afternoon, then goes to pick currants for her tea.
How long has Joe Dagget been away, and why did he leave?
He has been in Australia for fourteen years, seeking to make his fortune before marrying Louisa.
What happens every time Joe visits Louisa’s house?
He inadvertently disturbs her carefully ordered home -- rearranging her books, tracking in dust, and knocking over her work-basket.
What does Louisa overhear on her moonlit walk a week before the wedding?
She overhears Joe and Lily Dyer confessing their love for each other, while both insist they will honor Joe’s engagement to Louisa.
How does Louisa break off the engagement without revealing what she overheard?
She tells Joe she has lived so long in one way that she shrinks from making a change, never mentioning Lily Dyer.
How does Joe respond when Louisa releases him from the engagement?
He says he thinks it may be better this way, but assures her he would have stayed loyal till his dying day if she had wanted.
What is Louisa’s emotional state the morning after ending the engagement?
She feels "like a queen who, after fearing lest her domain be wrested away from her, sees it firmly insured in her possession."
What distinguishes Louisa Ellis from her neighbors in her daily habits?
She uses her best china every day, while her neighbors save theirs for the parlor closet -- a sign of her devotion to personal refinement.
What animal simile does Freeman use to describe Joe Dagget after he leaves Louisa’s room?
He feels like "an innocent and perfectly well-intentioned bear" exiting a china shop.
How is Lily Dyer physically described?
She is tall and full-figured, with a firm face and strong yellow hair braided in a close knot, with "a masterful way which might have beseemed a princess."
What does Lily Dyer declare she will do if Joe jilts Louisa for her?
She says she would not have him -- "Honor’s honor, an’ right’s right."
What happened to Louisa’s family during Joe’s fourteen-year absence?
Both her mother and brother died, leaving her completely alone in the world.
How does Louisa’s choice challenge nineteenth-century expectations for women?
She chooses spinsterhood over marriage at a time when unmarried women were stigmatized, asserting that solitude and self-sufficiency are valid forms of fulfillment.
What does the story suggest about the relationship between duty and happiness?
Both Louisa and Joe are trapped by a fourteen-year-old promise neither truly wants to keep, suggesting that blind duty can prevent genuine happiness for everyone involved.
How has Louisa’s long solitude changed her relationship to domestic routine?
Her routines have become her identity -- she rips seams for the pleasure of resewing them and has "almost the enthusiasm of an artist" over her household order.
Is Louisa’s ending portrayed as triumph or loss?
Freeman presents it as triumph -- Louisa feels like a queen -- while acknowledging the narrowness of her "placid" life, leaving the reader to weigh both sides.
What do Louisa’s three layered aprons represent?
They symbolize the protective layers she wraps around herself, each removed and replaced according to the level of formality or intimacy required.
Why does the canary flutter wildly every time Joe enters the room?
The caged bird mirrors Louisa’s own agitation at the disruption Joe represents to her ordered, sheltered existence.
What parallel does Freeman draw between Caesar the dog and Louisa?
Both have been confined for fourteen years -- Caesar chained for a youthful bite, Louisa bound by a youthful promise -- and both have adapted to their confinement.
What is ironic about the way the engagement ends?
Both Louisa and Joe want out but are afraid to betray their true feelings, so the resolution depends on Louisa’s accidental eavesdropping rather than honest communication.
What does "diurnal" mean in the phrase "this soft diurnal commotion"?
Relating to the daytime or occurring daily -- Freeman uses it to describe the everyday rhythms of late afternoon settling into evening.
What does "troth-plight" mean?
A formal engagement or betrothal -- Louisa fears doing Joe "a terrible injury should she break her troth-plight."
What is a "still" in the context of Louisa’s hobbies?
A distilling apparatus used to extract essences from plants -- Louisa uses hers to distill fragrances from roses, peppermint, and spearmint.
What does the final line -- "like an uncloistered nun" -- mean?
Louisa has chosen a nun-like life of solitude and devotion to routine, but freely and without convent walls -- she is cloistered by choice, not compulsion.
What does Freeman mean when she writes that Louisa’s path was "so narrow that there was no room for any one at her side"?
During Joe’s absence, Louisa’s life became so self-contained and solitary that it could no longer accommodate a partner.
What biblical allusion does the narrator make about Louisa’s choice in the final paragraph?
The narrator says if Louisa "had sold her birthright she did not know it, the taste of the pottage was so delicious" -- alluding to Esau selling his birthright for a bowl of stew (Genesis 25).