Essay Undergraduate 601 words

A Mistaken Charity: Independence, Age, and Class in Freeman

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Abstract

This paper examines Mary E. Wilkins Freeman's short story "A Mistaken Charity" (1887), focusing on its portrayal of two elderly sisters, Harriet and Charlotte, who struggle to maintain their independence in rural New England. The analysis addresses how the story challenges the assumption that elderly or disabled individuals are incapable of self-sufficiency, while also exploring how upper-class women use charitable acts to assert moral superiority and dominance over their lower-class neighbors. The paper draws on feminist criticism to highlight themes of integrity, courage, class tension, and the redemptive power of rebellion against paternalistic interference.

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What makes this paper effective

It integrates direct textual evidence from the primary source alongside secondary feminist criticism, grounding its claims in both the story and scholarly interpretation.
It clearly identifies the story's central tension — the desire for independence versus the imposition of charitable "help" — and sustains this focus throughout.
It uses brief but pointed quotation (e.g., "nothing short of Gabriel's trumpet") to anchor analytical observations about character and theme.

Key academic technique demonstrated

The paper demonstrates feminist literary analysis by drawing on critics such as Judith Fetterley to reframe what appears to be benevolent charity as a mechanism of class dominance. This move — reinterpreting a surface-level positive action as an exercise of power — is a core technique in ideological literary criticism.

Structure breakdown

The paper opens with a thematic framing statement supported by secondary criticism, moves into a plot summary that establishes the characters and conflict, and then layers analytical claims about independence, class, and moral superiority. It closes with a concise thematic synthesis. The structure is compact but logically sequenced, suitable for a short literary response essay.

Introduction

Mary E. Wilkins Freeman's A Mistaken Charity (1887) is a story that explores the tensions between coping with the infirmities of old age and the passionate desire to live an independent life. As Marsha Saxton (1987) notes, Freeman dispels the myth that elderly or disabled people are completely dependent on others and incapable of directing their own lives. The story is a quiet but forceful argument for the dignity and self-determination of those society too readily dismisses.

The story centers on two sisters who never married. Mary E. Wilkins Freeman portrays Harriet as the strong one — determined to stay independent and out of the poorhouse. She may be somewhat deaf, but she is far from defeated. Charlotte, her sister, is considerably more fragile and is also blind. The sisters live in rural New England in a small, rent-free, ramshackle house with a terribly leaky roof. They maintain a small garden and occasionally catch a trout in a nearby stream. Thoughtful neighbors stop by from time to time with food. Despite these hardships, Harriet and Charlotte manage.

Plot Overview

One neighbor, a busybody named Mrs. Simonds, decides that the women simply cannot make it on their own. Although Harriet insists that "nothing short of Gabriel's trumpet will get us out of our house," the sisters are ultimately carted off to a rest home. It does not take long for them to realize that living among the "proper" ladies is not for them. Even the gentle Charlotte is willing to do anything to return home (Freeman, 1887).

At its heart, A Mistaken Charity is a story about personal autonomy and the right to define one's own way of living. Harriet's fierce resistance to being removed from her home is not mere stubbornness; it is an assertion of identity and dignity. Even Charlotte, who might appear to be the more passive of the two, ultimately shares her sister's determination to reclaim their life together. Freeman presents both women not as passive victims of circumstance but as active agents in their own story, capable of defining what home and independence mean to them.

Feminist critic Judith Fetterley (2003) offers a compelling framework for reading the story's social dynamics. She analyzes the way upper-class women gain their sense of identity by taking a charitable interest in their lower-class neighbors. This apparent benevolence, Fetterley argues, is actually a form of takeover and domination, one that is purchased at the expense of those it claims to help. Paternalistic charity, in this reading, becomes a mechanism through which social hierarchies are reinforced rather than dissolved. Mrs. Simonds's well-meaning intervention is therefore not simply misguided — it is an exercise of class power dressed up as moral concern.

Themes of Independence and Resistance

This interpretation reframes the story's central conflict: it is not merely about two elderly women being forced into a rest home, but about the broader social structures that permit one group to override another's autonomy under the guise of care. Freeman's regionalist fiction consistently exposes the quiet coercions embedded in everyday social relations, and A Mistaken Charity is among her most pointed examples of this critique.

A Mistaken Charity focuses on women's integrity, courage, and, at times, privation. In this story, Freeman shows how rebellion can sometimes be good and right — a necessary act of self-preservation against a world that confuses control with kindness.

1 Locked Section · 65 words remaining

Class, Charity, and Moral Superiority · 65 words

"Upper-class charity as domination and power"

Conclusion

Saxton, M., & Howe, F. (Eds.). (1987). With wings. New York: Feminist Press.

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Key Concepts in This Paper

Charitable Paternalism Female Independence Class Dynamics Old Age Rural New England Feminist Criticism Moral Superiority Rebellion Disability Social Domination