Ideology and Revolt in Mary E. Wilkins Freeman's Story
This paper analyzes Mary E. Wilkins Freeman's short story "The Revolt of Mother," focusing on the ideology of the protagonist, Sarah Penn, and how her steadfast philosophy drives the story's central conflict and resolution. The paper examines Sarah's character development, her role as catalyst, the use of point of view, the New England setting, and the story's broader themes of marital communication and self-determination. It also considers Freeman's own later rejection of the story and what that ambivalence reveals about attitudes toward strong women. The paper argues that Sarah's evolving ideology — her unwavering dream of a proper home — is the true "magic" that enables her revolt and ultimate triumph over forty years of silent endurance.
- Introduction: A Woman Who Knows What She Wants: Overview of story's themes and Sarah's ideology
- Sarah Penn: Character, Determination, and Forty Years of Resentment: Sarah's role, resentments, and confrontation with Adoniram
- Ideology as the 'Magic' Force in the Story: How Sarah's ideology drives her revolt and character arc
- Point of View, Setting, and Yankee Ingenuity: Narrative focus, New England setting, and Sarah's adaptability
- Freeman's Ambivalence Toward Her Own Story: Freeman's later rejection and what it reveals
- Conclusion: Communication, Ideology, and Underlying Sadness: Tragic silence between spouses and story's lasting truth
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What makes this paper effective
- The paper anchors its literary analysis in a clearly defined critical concept — ideology — and traces how that concept operates through character, plot, and setting, giving the essay coherent focus throughout.
- Direct quotations from the primary text are woven into the argument at each stage, grounding claims in textual evidence rather than assertion alone.
- The inclusion of Freeman's own later repudiation of the story adds an interesting meta-critical layer, inviting the reader to question authorial intent versus textual meaning.
- The paper balances close reading with thematic synthesis, moving from specific scenes (moving into the barn, the brother's letter) to broader conclusions about marriage and communication.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates ideological literary criticism — using a defined philosophical concept (ideology as the principles one lives by) as a lens through which to read character motivation and narrative structure. This approach shows how a single critical framework can unify character analysis, plot analysis, and thematic discussion into a coherent argument.
Structure breakdown
The essay opens with a thesis introducing "ideology" as its central lens, then moves through a plot-level character study of Sarah Penn, an analysis of how her ideology creates narrative momentum, a discussion of point of view and setting, a biographical note on Freeman's rejection of the story, and a conclusion that ties the theme of non-communication back to the paper's central claim. Each section builds on the previous one without redundancy.
Introduction: A Woman Who Knows What She Wants
Mary E. Wilkins Freeman's short story "The Revolt of Mother" centers on the concept of ideology and demonstrates how its "magic" operates through one determined woman's choices. The story is an amusing account of a woman who knows what she wants, has done without it for forty years, and is no longer willing to endure the deprivation. Sarah Penn is a strong character who stands up to her husband and refuses to allow him to continue dominating the family. She uses her tough ideology to create the situation she desires, illustrating not only the need for understanding and communication in a relationship, but also the necessity of standing up for oneself, no matter the cost.
Sarah Penn: Character, Determination, and Forty Years of Resentment
"The Revolt of Mother" is a story of determination and unwavering goals. Sarah Penn is a woman who has always put herself last in her family. She and her children sacrifice so that "Father" can raise his cows and put food on the table. The family appears poor, but they are not — her husband is simply frugal with his family while freely spending money on the farm. They have lived under duress for years, always waiting for the "new house" that is never built. Sarah defends her husband to her children and will not allow them to speak badly of him, even when he behaves selfishly and without feeling. She always tends to his needs and wants, but he does not reciprocate. As the story makes clear: "However deep a resentment she might be forced to hold against her husband, she would never fail in sedulous attention to his wants" ("Mother").
Once Sarah begins her tirade against her husband, there is nothing to stop her. She has had forty years to build resentments, forty years to stew about the house that was never built, and she finally lets her husband hear the feelings she has kept inside for so long. She protests: "You're lodgin' your dumb beasts better than you are your own flesh an' blood. I want to know if you think it's right'" ("Mother"). Of course it is not right, and Sarah and her family have endured it long enough. Sarah resolves her problem with humor and determination, moving her family into the new barn and refusing to back down to her husband.
Ultimately, the story illustrates how two people can live together for forty years and still not know each other, as Adoniram acknowledges at the end: "Why, mother,' he said, hoarsely, 'I hadn't no idee you was so set on't as all this comes to'" ("Mother"). Adoniram did not truly know Sarah, and Sarah did not know that if she had shown backbone earlier, she would not have had to suffer in a dilapidated house for forty years. It is a sad testament to families who never talk and never learn about each other, even though they live and work together every day.
In "The Revolt of Mother," Sarah is at a defining moment in her life. She may not be as fully self-actualized as some women, but she is more so than many others of her time, because she stands up to her husband honestly and tackles his evasiveness directly. The author describes her as a small woman, yet one who has learned from experience that she will not get her way unless she is strong. Accordingly, she possesses an underlying strength those around her have not previously seen. "There were meek downward lines about her nose and mouth; but her eyes, fixed upon the old man, looked as if the meekness had been the result of her own will, never of the will of another" ("Mother"). Her husband does not quite know how to handle this newly resolute woman. "The old man glanced doggedly at his wife as he tightened the last buckles on the harness. She looked as immovable to him as one of the rocks in his pastureland, bound to the earth with generations of blackberry vines" ("Mother").
Ideology as the 'Magic' Force in the Story
Sarah is the protagonist of the story because she is the catalyst that puts everything in motion. Her character is fully developed, while the rest of the family remains shadowy and less central to the outcome. As one critic observed:
"At every point her management of the situation — once the die is cast — conforms strictly with the customs of her type. Having won her limited engagement with Father, she returns at once to her conventional role. The single departure — if it is a departure — from the truth of character has been deftly covered; the illusion has been preserved" (Foster 92).
Freeman uses Sarah to highlight the lack of communication between men and women, and also to illustrate the "magic" of an ideology developed over time. Ideology — the principles and philosophy by which one lives — must shift for Sarah if she is to realize her dreams. She must surrender the meek demeanor she has maintained for so long and reveal what she is truly made of. She has had ample time to nurture her dream of a proper house, and when she finally resolves to act, her ideology is rock solid and utterly immovable. This is a new and determined woman who will stop at nothing to have what she wants, even if it means confronting her husband and causing a scandal in her small village. She creates the opportunity she needs by having her brother send her husband a letter about a horse. "Unsolicited opportunities are the guideposts of the Lord to the new roads of life,' she repeated in effect, and she made up her mind to her course of action" ("Mother"). Believing so strongly in her ideology, she manufactures the opportunity she needs and quickly seizes it before she can change her mind.
Conclusion: Communication, Ideology, and Underlying Sadness
"The Revolt of Mother" may not be a true story, but it is an amusing and telling one. Sarah gets what she wants because she has always held a strong and determined ideology about the home of her dreams. She is willing to sacrifice some things to secure a better home, and in the end she prevails over her husband because she knows her dreams and is tenacious about achieving them. Ultimately, the story is about two people who do not truly know each other, even though they have shared each other's lives for forty years. Freeman may not have liked the story because it was not "true," but the analogy it draws seems truer than most of us would care to admit — most people spend their lives not really knowing the deepest thoughts of those around them, and that is the underlying sadness in this tale of a woman of strength and determination.
References
Foster, Edward. Mary E. Wilkins Freeman. New York: Hendricks House, 1956.
Freeman, Mary E. Wilkins. "The Revolt of Mother." Personal Web Page. 2000. 13 March 2003.
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