If I Cant Have Her, No One Can :: essays research papers

Most people, when forced to give up the one thing they truly love, would rather see it be destroyed than in the hands of another person. In &8220 gray Woman Magoun, by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman, the senile charwoman is in that position. She is burdened with relinquishing handgrip of her granddaughter, Lily, to the child&8217s father. Throughout the story, the old woman faces an inner struggle all everyplace caring for and, ultimately, losing her granddaughter. She deals with her struggle in a very realistic, human response. Old Woman Magoun is a woman who refuses to be disobeyed or disagreed with. She has a peculiar command over all those in her company. &8220No one had dared openly repugn the old woman (Freeman, 362). The only person she cannot make &8220visibly cower (361) is Nelson Barry, Lily&8217s father. He is the only one that shows any disregard towards the old woman. Old Woman Magoun and Nelson Barry neer agree with each other in any way. The old woman has been especia lly cautious of Barry ever since her daughter died and she had to take care of Lily. After an undesired and unforeseen encounter between the girl and Barry, the old woman is informed that she must hand over the girl. Feeling helpless and having no control over the situation, she feels forced to make a major decision to prevent the young girl from, what she feels, would be a grave predicament.Old Woman Magoun most credibly feels responsible for Lily&8217s situation and her own daughter&8217s demise and has learned to fear men as a result of it. She fears the girl&8217s father because he represents the part of herself that she cannot control, Lily. She has no choice but to give up her granddaughter and she cannot bear to lose her to the man she despises, Nelson Barry. Facing the reality of losing Lily is more than the old woman is readily prepared for. In many of her stories, Freeman &8220invests the women with power and yet simultaneously limits their power (http//www.georgetown.edu /libraries/ 2). Old Woman Magoun has a mysterious command over people, but it doesn&8217t help her when it comes to keeping Lily. She still has to relinquish her control over the child and she has no power to change the circumstances. Freeman makes the old woman flummox the &8220realities of nineteenth-century New England (2). These realities are that a woman must abide by her socially defined and accepted role and if she does not abide, she will suffer the consequences that result.