A New England Nun

A New England Nun Literary Elements


Local Color Fiction; Short Story; Literary Realism

Setting and Context

New England countryside, 1890s

Narrator and Point of View

The narrator is unnamed and speaks in the third person to describe the events from an outside perspective.

Tone and Mood

The mood is melancholy and passive. The tone is observant and realist.

Protagonist and Antagonist

Louisa is the protagonist. There is no real antagonist other than the prospect of marriage and change to Louisa's life.

Major Conflict

The story's conflict takes place within Louisa. She dreads marriage but passively moves towards it—until she overhears a conversation that prompts her to confront it head-on.


Louisa eavesdrops on a conversation between Joe and Lily and realizes they are in love. After overhearing them, she calls off her marriage with Joe and spends the rest of her days alone.






At the conclusion of the story, the narrator alludes to the biblical narrative in which Esau sells his birthright for a pot of stew. If Louisa, the narrator comments, did the same, "she did not know it, the taste of the pottage was so delicious, and had been her sole satisfaction for so long. Serenity and placid narrowness had become to her as the birthright itself."

The narrator also comments that even St. George's dragon was not more fierce and evil in its reputation than Caesar, Louisa's old dog. St. George's dragon references a legend that centers on the figure of Saint George (died 303), who slew a dragon who was known for demanding human sacrifices.


See the separate "Imagery" section of this ClassicNote for details..




There is a parallel in the characters of Lily, Caesar, and the canary. All three of these characters are confined to lives of solitude.

Metonymy and Synecdoche