A Vision of “feminized” religion in Mary E. Wilkins Freeman’s “a Church Mouse” and “Christmas Jenny”

Abstract

In its analysis of “A Church Mouse” and “Christmas Jenny,” Mary E. Wilkins Freeman’s two short stories from A New England Nun and Other Stories, my paper examines this writer’s redefinition of female spirituality in the nineteenth century when patriarchal society prescribed the constricting stereotypical image of femininity as characterized by piety, purity, submissiveness, and domesticity. I argue that Freeman liberated her female characters from these patriarchal ideologies, salvaged some of these virtues out of the context of male domination, and deployed them to sanctify women. Not only did Freeman open up religious space for women, but she also presented her female characters as religious exemplars, who employ some of the supposedly feminine virtues to free religious from the domination of patriarchy and to revive a purer spirit of religion. In so doing, Freeman offered a liberal vision of “feminized” religion, which significantly recognizes women’s values, yet was not oblivious to the fact that true spirituality is free from gender distinctions.