Sarah Penn Analysis

(1) Sarah Penn’s decision to move her family into the barn without her husband’s awareness or approval is not the kind of behavior expected of a woman at the time of the story. (2) When moving her family into the barn, the narrator refers to Sarah’s “genius” and “bravery,” and her children are “overawed” by their mothers’ actions (Freeman). (3) Sammy and Nanny stare at each other and then watch as their mother prepares to make the move; as Nanny asks her mother what is happening, “a sense of something unusual made [Nanny] tremble” (Freeman). (4) The narrator explains the children’s behavior by stating that “there is a certain uncanny and superhuman quality about all such purely original undertakings as their mother’s was to them” (Freeman). …show more content…
(6) The narrator says that “any deviation from the ordinary course of life in this quiet town was enough to stop all progress in it” Sarah’s actions certainly represent a deviation from the ordinary (Freeman). (7) The minister tries to understand what is happening; but he is dumbfounded by Sarah’s behavior. (8) The minister “could expound the intricacies of every character study in the Scriptures, […] but Sarah Penn was beyond him” (Freeman). (9) The characters not understanding how a woman could make such a bold move. (10) Despite the expectations of her family and the community, Sarah “empowers herself with the authority necessary to create her different space,” this is an unusual achievement “in the context of nineteenth-century expectations for women” (Daniel). (11) Sarah surprises her own children and members of the community, but no one is more shocked by Sarah’s behavior then her husband. (12) The narrator suggests the tension regarding how Adoniram will react to the change when Sammy tells his mother and sister of the man’s arrival: “‘There he is,’ he announced, in an awed whisper”