From the very beginning of Freeman's "Old Woman Magoun" we can see that Mrs. Magoun loves her granddaughter, Lily, very much. We're told that her grandmother "taught her everything she knew" (418). She takes care that Lily wears a hat to walk up to the store so she doesn't get a headache. After the confrontation between the old woman and Nelson Barry, Mrs. Magoun walks with Lily all the way to the next town in the hopes that Lily will be adopted by a well-to-do lawyer and his wife. Mrs. Magoun wants what she believes is best for her granddaughter.
Perhaps Mrs. Magoun is driven by guilt of what happened to her daughter to try to keep Lily from the same fate. After learning that Lily will be given to Jim Willis to settle her father's gambling debts, Mrs. Magoun does everything within her power to keep Lily from being forced into a situation like that. Giving Lily up to the lawyer was her last hope. Once those hopes were dashed, Mrs. Magoun already felt that Lily's life was over. Passively allowing her to eat the deadly nightshade berries just allowed the inevitable to happen more quickly and with potentially less suffering on Lily's part. Lily's death reiterates Old Woman Magouns statement that "the Lord will take care of her" (423).
Personally, I think Old Woman Magoun is a sinner and she took away Lily's choice to live. Old Woman Magoun should have explained the situation to Lily and let her decide if she wanted to be with Jim Willis or die. Also, if she had been given that choice and chosen Jim Willis and then not liked him she could have eaten the berries then. Old Woman Magoun was narrow minded and did not treat Lily fairly in this instance.
ReplyDeleteI agree that Mrs. Magoun was trying to save Lily from a traumatic future, but she definitely took way to drastic of an approach to solving the problem.
ReplyDeleteA smart post, Stephanie. I think you do the a most eloquent job of explaining OWM's actions.
ReplyDelete