A novel (symbol)
A novel, especially a romantic one, is a symbol of distorted reality. One of the worst vices a woman could possess is love for “novel-reading.” It seems that Rhoda hates every writer. “If every novelist could be strangled and thrown into the sea,” then they “should have some chance of reforming women.” The girl’s nature is “corrupted with sentimentality, like that of all but every woman who is intelligent enough to read what is called the best fiction,” but “not intelligent enough to understand its vice.” Novels give them a distorted idea of life.
Sexual instinct (allegory)
According to Miss Rhoda Nunn, a sexual instinct is ab allegory for dependence. That natural urge to procreate prevents people from being truly and absolutely free. She says, “Women’s battle is not only against themselves.” She is “convinced” that “before the female sex can be raised from its low level” there have to be “a widespread revolt against sexual instinct.” Even Christianity “couldn’t spread over the world without help of the ascetic idea.” In other words, a person can be driven by only one passion. It is either sexual instinct or a strong desire to change the world.
Emancipation (motif)
Rhoda Nunn, Miss Barfoot, and many other women were willing to sacrifice their own comfort for “female emancipation.” Though they didn’t always see eye to eye, for Rhoda had rather radical views and Miss Barfoot refused to follow her advice, they knew that they had to do everything they could to convince the girls that their main duty was “to lead a life of effort.” They had to teach them how to “earn their bread” and to “cultivate their minds.” They wanted to see the girls free, independent, self-assured, and educated.
