“The Revolt of Mother"
Mother’s tactic typifies nobility. Freeman contends, “Nobility of character manifests itself at loop-holes when it is not provided with large doors. Sarah Penn's showed itself today in flaky dishes of pastry. So she made the pies faithfully, while across the table she could see, when she glanced up from her work, the sight that rankled in her patient and steadfast soul -- the digging of the cellar of the new barn in the place where Adoniram forty years ago had promised her their new house should stand.” Even though Mother is upset by the construction of the new barn, she does not mislay her level-headedness. Mother espouses mental strength because she goes on with her obligations as if nothing is unsettling her. Although her husband has not lived up to his forty-year old pledge she still displays her composure.
Referencing the dead children appeals to father’s remorse (Pathos). Mother tells father, "there's all the room I've had to sleep in for forty year. All my children were born there -- the two that died, an' the two that's livin'. I was sick with a fever there." Mother wants father to feel remorseful for letting down his family ( including the deceased children).
Facts (Logos) such as the non-existent carpet, the filthy paper, and the cost of the roll, call on father to reevaluate his pronouncement of setting up another barn instead of setting up a new house. Mother stresses, “you see this room here, father; you look at it well. You see there ain't no carpet on the floor, an' you see the paper is all dirty, an' droppin' off the walls. We 'ain't had no new paper on it for ten year, an' then I put it on myself, an' it didn't cost but nine-pence a roll. You see this room, father; it's all the one I've had to work in an' eat in an' sit in sence we was married.” Pointing out facts about the present-day form of their house strengthens the argument. Mother’s declarations are not imagined; they are based on the veracity of their abode.
Asserting her credibility (Ethos) as a worthy wife challenges father to concede that mother has been tolerant with him all through. She professes, “I never have sence I married you, but I'm goin' to now. I 'ain't never complained, an' I ain't goin' to complain now, but I'm goin' to talk plain.” The ethos infers, the issue of the new barn is the last straw for mother. Mother’s argument is sensible due to balanced fusion of Ethos, Pathos and Logos.
“The New England Nun”
The title, “The New England Nun”, is a religious allusion to Louisa’s devotion. Freeman writes, “She had been faithful to him all these years. She had never dreamed of the possibility of marrying anyone else. Her life, especially for the last seven years, had been full of a pleasant peace, she had never felt discontented nor impatient over her lover's absence ; still she had always looked forward to his return and their marriage as the inevitable conclusion of things. However, she had fallen into a way of placing it so far in the future that it was almost equal to placing it over the boundaries of another life.” Louisa’s allegiance towards Joe is analogous to the dedication that the nuns exhibit towards their religious vocation. She does not get fatigued waiting for him, in the same way that nuns do not get weary serving God. Louisa rules out the option of marrying another man; correspondingly, when nuns embark on their vocation they give up the opportunity of matrimonial life. The nuns do not get exasperated as a result of forgoing marital bliss for the service of God. Louisa awaits Joe’s return in the same way that nuns anticipate Jesus’ unforeseeable return. The ‘boundaries of another life” are an allusion to the life after Jesus’ advent. Eventually, Louisa’s resolution to live in the same way as a nun , beyond the precincts of a convent, amplifies the applicability of: “The New England Nun.”
“The New England Nun” adopts the Loyalty versus Love binary. Joe Dagget tells Lily Dyer, “I ain't going back on a woman that's waited for me fourteen years,” Joe wants to marry because of allegiance and not love. Fourteen year denotes the prolonged existence of their devotion. Joe Dagget holds that jilting Louisa would be disreputable in view of her waiting for him for more than a decade. After breaking their engagement, Joe is not infuriated, he assures her that “I'm going to be honest enough to say that I think maybe it's better this way; but if you'd wanted to keep on, I'd have stuck to you till my dying day.” Perhaps, if they had wedded early in their dating, then the marriage would have had better odds. The break up liberates them from the distress of a problematic marriage and in all probability, a divorce.
