The Revolt of “Mother” Study Guide

Mary Eleanor Wilkins Freeman was an American writer. After moving with her family to Vermont in 1867, Mary Wilkins attended high school, followed by brief stints at Mount Holyoke Seminary and Mrs. Hosford’s Glenwood Seminary. Afterwards, she returned home and began writing children’s short stories and religious poetry. Following the deaths of her parents, Mary Wilkins moved back home to Randolph, Massachusetts in 1883. She lived with friends while writing her first stories for adults in a Boston newspaper. Freeman wrote over a dozen short stories and novels during her lifetime. In 1902, she married Charles M. Freeman and lived with him in Metuchen, New Jersey until her death. Freeman’s stories, written in an objective yet humorous narrative voice, deal with individuals, mostly women, who struggle against oppressive situations. Mary is chiefly remembered for her collections A Humble Romance and Other Stories (1887), A New England Nun and Other Stories (1891), and her novel Pembroke (1894).

The late-19th century upheld traditional gender roles, with women expected to serve domestic roles as housewives, mothers, and caregivers in their communities. In addition, women were instructed to embody moral purity, fidelity, and chastity in their respective households, leaving the world of business and politics to their husbands. However, the rise of suffragism and industrialization during this era led to women’s increased involvement in politics and in economic life. More women sought the right to vote and be counted as equal citizens in the United States. What’s more, many women also sought employment, if not in factories, then as governesses, teachers, secretaries, and nurses. In “The Revolt of ‘Mother,’” Sarah Penn’s search for agency in her marriage aligns with the kind of agency and opportunity that women were beginning to seek out in the United States at the turn of the century.

A couple of Freeman’s contemporaries included Mark Twain and Kate Chopin, who, like Freeman, were known for their “local color” style (that is, their depictions of regional customs and dialects) and their depiction of characters in restrictive environments. Mark Twain’s popular novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884) details the exploits of an illiterate, poor, backwoods southern boy, while Kate Chopin’s novel The Awakening (1899) chronicles the emotional journey of a married New Orleans socialite who embarks on an extramarital affair. Although these novels depict different regions and circumstances, they, like Freeman’s “The Revolt of ‘Mother,’” all involve characters who struggle with restrictions placed upon their gender and societal status. Additionally, the narratives in each of these texts convey humorous depictions and commentaries of the traditional—and sometimes antiquated—community values upheld in these regions, suggesting that the writers viewed them as outdated and out of touch.