The need for reform
One of the easiest features of the novel to identify is the perplexing catch-22's that face Esther at every turn. Instead of viewing a mother with child as important, her culture views her as a fallen woman with an illegitimate child, essentially dehumanizing her and cursing her and the child. She is treated this way since her young age, having been forced into hard labor instead of receiving her education. Workhouses are often seriously unsafe, and many people find themselves injured and dead from the difficult work. When she needs employment, she often can't find it for herself because the society is so broken. These are all expressions of what is implied by her religious associations: Esther provides insights that show the need for social and cultural reform.
The tragic cycle of life
There is a scene when Esther gives birth to her son, and also her mom gives birth and dies in the delivery at the very same time. This is a balance of death and birth. When Esther is most hopeless, she finds a miracle and gets back on her feet. When she takes a risk on her husband, she is rewarded for her bravery, and when her son is old enough to take care of himself, she loses it all again (shady husband included), but instead of regretting this, she finds a friend and realizes she now has everything she wants: a peaceful life to meditate and pray. This demonstrates the cycle of fate, because there are fortunes and misfortunes that seem random, but then one day she realizes that it was all to bring her to the moment where she will exist until she dies. She is home now, in a sense, guided by cruel fate.
The practice of Christianity
One of the most noticeable character details about Esther is that she belongs to a somewhat esoteric movement of the low Protestant church in England. This denomination, Plymouth Brothers, reappears in Esther's life when she needs community most, underscoring the importance of the church in her life, not because she went to services, but because she was in a community network that allowed her to find help when she needed it. This, along with her contentment to practice religion alone with Mrs. Barfield, indicate the importance of religion to Esther's life.
