Attempted Secrecy in "Old Woman Magoun"

The theme of secrecy also plays a significant role in Freeman's "Old Woman Magoun." At the very beginning of the story, Freeman plants seeds of secrecy by relating the rather cloudy history of Lily’s mother. The story has circulated “…that Lily’s mother…had been married at sixteen” (418), but Freeman is careful to qualify that it is Old Woman Magoun who has insisted upon the truth of the story. Thus the true nature of the events surrounding Lily’s birth isn’t as secret as Old Woman Magoun would like them to be. Her vehement insistence that her daughter was, indeed, married lends suspicion to her claim. The townspeople themselves doubted the truth of the story: people were already spreading “rumors” (418).

This theme of trying too hard to conceal secrets that are actually quite obvious runs throughout the rest of the piece. Lily’s death at the hands of Old Woman Magoun is anything but surprising. Old Woman Magoun’s declaration that “‘She wouldn’t hurt you for nothin’, except it was to save your life, or somethin’ like that’” (425) is the first clue that she is going to harm Lily. I think that we as readers have been trained to immediately distrust statements that begin with something like “I would never.” As if to further erase our doubt, Freeman describes the way in which Old Woman Magoun spoke: “She spoke with an undertone of tremendous meaning which the girl was too childish to grasp” (425). Maybe Lily is “too childish” to understand, but the readers probably feel as if they are being hit over the head with excessive foreshadowing. It is as if Freeman wants the readers to know exactly what Old Woman Magoun is planning, but I’m not sure why.

It seems that Old Woman Magoun does succeed in concealing how, exactly, Lily dies. Nobody saw Lily eat the nightshade berries, but at least a few people believe that it was the “milk and sour apples” (428) that caused Lily’s illness. And Old Woman Magoun’s grief is certainly believable: she “shook with her terrible sobs” (428), possibly because she actually is terribly sad about her granddaughter’s imminent death. The fact that she carries around “Lily’ s old rag doll” (429) probably lends credence to her innocent grief: clinging to some reminder of a dead grandchild is probably something a crazily grief-stricken grandparent would do. Rather than ending with the revelation of a secret, as “A New England Nun” and “Two Friends” do, “Old Woman Magoun” ends with the concealment of a secret. Readers are left with the image of a stubborn elderly woman with a tattered doll and a deadly secret that she will carry for the rest of her life.

Boston Marriages

A little google search for "Boston Marriage" brought me to this article from the 2001 Ms. Magazine. It gives some background on the term, contemplates different kinds of relationships between women, and (I think) intersects with our class discussion quite well.

Good honest folk and the Yankee reserve

with our study of Freeman, Dr Hanrahan keeps coming back to this stereotype of "Yankee reserve". Obviously, this is the reservation of the characters and their unwillingness to show their feelings, but how much does it play into the stories. I see the yankee reserve as a cousin to the British "stiff upper lip" mentality.

Shelbi brought up how events in "New England Nun" would have been handled differently by people today (the Kardashians), but this may have been handled differently from a different region. For instance, I know a lot of "southern lady" types who would have let it slide and made it regularly known through sporadically nice and icy treatment of the person and a decades long gossip campaign against his or her character. Generally any nasty statements made would be preceded by "Now, I just love her to death but..."

Punishment for "biting" the forbidden fruit?

I have to admit that when I first read this piece I did not pick up on any sexual references. I was caught up in her obsession with order and her indifference to the man she had waited fourteen years for. I found it incredible that she remained loyal to him for so many years and originally thought it was quite sad that she gave up so much of her life waiting for a man who may not have ever returned. After finishing the piece I realized that over time it became her choice to live the way she did and that she really was not waiting for him, but was simply enjoying her life.

As for sexuality within this piece, as I said earlier I did not initially pick up on it but I examined further and ended up settling on one line within the piece that got me thinking. Freeman chooses to state that Joe was "the first lover she had ever had" (Freeman 360). The fact that she chose "lover" instead of "love" is a clear attempt to make a point. "Love" would have fit perfectly into that line and would have implied a purity to the feelings she had for him; but, the fact that she chose "lover" implies a sexual exchange occurred between Joe and Louisa. I also find it interesting that Caesar's crime of biting occurred fourteen years prior which was around the time Joe left. It makes me wonder if Caesar's sin of biting could be tied in with Louisa's sin of sexual intercourse before marriage? It could be that Caesar is suffering the punishment of confinement in the same way that Louisa suffers sexual confinement. It doesn't appear that either of them are truly suffering when both Louisa and Caesar seem content with their lives; but, as the "tall weeds and grasses...cluster around Caesars little hermit hut," and the canary turns "itself into a peaceful yellow ball..." I ponder what is truly being caged as Louisa steeps "in peace" (Freeman 365). It could possibly be Louisa's sexuality or her subscription to traditional marital ambitions. It could also be a punishment she imposes on herself for "biting" (similar to Caesar) the forbidden fruit fourteen years prior.