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Elements Of Fiction In The Revolt Of Mother Short Story

Decent Essays

Three elements of fiction are used in the short story, “The Revolt of ‘Mother.” Elements of fiction are used in novels and stories to make them more effective. These elements in the story will be used from the beginning to the end of the novel or short story. These elements are also active and relate to each of the other elements dynamically. “The Revolt of ‘Mother” is about the Penn family and about how the father decided to build a new barn in the exact same place he said that he was going to build his wife a big, new house. The mother was upset with the father for breaking his promise while he was away deciding to move the family into the new barn and move out of their small, worn-down house. In Mary E. Wilkins Freeman’s novel, she effectively used three elements of fiction in her short “The Revolt of ‘Mother”. One element of fiction that Freeman uses in her short story is characters. One character in the story is Sarah Penn. The role of Sarah in the story is that she is the mother to her two children, and wife to Adoniram Penn. Sarah is a housewife. She cooks, and bakes the meals for the family. She cleans the dishes after dinner, and cleans the house. Another role that she carries is she is a caretaker. Sarah takes care of the children and her husband. Freeman shows that Sarah was a caretaker to her husband when she says, “She poured some water into the tin basin, and put it in a piece of soap. She got the comb and brushed, and smoothed his thin gray hair after he had washed” (478-479). What Sarah represents in the story is a dynamic character. She is a dynamic character because in the beginning of the story Sarah is more reserved. She asked questions about the new barn that was being built and showed her emotions that she was upset but she never told anyone why. She is dynamic because she has an inner awakening that she learns which was that she needed to be open to her husband, Adoniram. When she goes to get Adoniram to talk Sarah is described as if she is a Queen. Freeman describes Sarah Penn, “Sarah Penn stood in the door like a queen; she held her head as if it bore a crown; there was the patience which makes authority royal in her voice” (472).
Another character in the story is Adoniram Penn.

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