" (Part I, Chapter III) Although older than Monica's oldest sister Virginia, Rhoda Nunn is still healthy and beautiful and even decorates her rooms with flowers, despite her masculine countenance. (Part I, Chapter III) She is a woman, daring enough to think and act, and urges Monica and her sisters to open a school to secure their own economic independence. "She will tell you what to do," marvels Virginia to Monica, after her first meeting, "practical" and "like a man" in her "energy and resources. (Part I, Chapter IV) Rhoda Nunn, however, is not simply a suffragette who believes that all female labor is healthy. She hopes for women to establish absolute autonomy from men and the male economies of the factory system. She frowns and the sick-inducing life Monica leads in her poorly paid life. "Charming arrangement," she sneers. (Part I, Chapter IV) Still, Rhoda's apparent aloneness frightens Monica into immediately adopting the feminine position of subservience to a potential male lover after her first meeting with Miss Nunn. (Part I, Chapter V) Although forced to work, Monica does not see work as part of her...

She has undergone some of the suffering of Rhoda, but is beautiful like Monica, yet has her own sense of individual devotion to her work, and has a "mental and moral stamina" that the other, older Maddens lack. (Part I, Chapter VI) Also, Mary sees that Monica "must find a husband," given the girl's flighty and delicate character. Mary sees different paths for women, rather than one. After all, she notes to her friend Miss Nunn, "we don't all desire the end of the race," although this fact causes much consternation for Rhoda, who wishes that all women could work and live independently of men.
Works Cited

Gissing, George. (1892) the Odd Woman. E-text online retrieved at 8 Dec 2004. http://lang.nagoya-u.ac.jp/~matsuoka/GG-OW.html