Mary Wilkins Freeman was born, raised, and spent most of her life in rural Puritan New England. This scene had a huge impact on his writing. Most of his novels and short stories had the ability to perfectly represent that lifestyle. One of the best examples of this is his story "A New England Nun". (Fiction) The main characters in this story are Louisa Ellis and Joe Dagget. Other important characters are Caesar, the dog and Lily Dyer. Louisa is described as very delicate, precise and methodical. She lives alone in her small house and rarely goes to town. When we first meet her, she is sewing her wedding dress. When he gets up to make tea, he arranges his things very carefully. He wears a green apron over his pink one. She uses porcelain every day, when most people in the village don't even have any. But he doesn't stand on a pedestal. He does these rituals not out of necessity, but for pleasure. When she sews by hand, she likes to make a seam and tear it apart for the pure gratification of sewing it back together. She also enjoys making essential oils from the fruits and flowers in her garden. He doesn't do it for money but to have such beautiful things in his home. She is the essence of peace and calm. (Literature)His exact opposite is Joe Dagget. He has been engaged to Louisa for fourteen years. He has been to Australia to make a fortune to bring back to his future bride. Even though we don't know exactly what he was doing, we are led to believe that it was a very masculine and dirty job. He is the same. It is very robust and always slightly dusty. Although he has a rough exterior, inside he is a loving, caring and loyal man. This is clear from our first meeting with Joe and Louisa. Even though it was uncomfortable and stiff, he still came every day. At the beginning of the story, the author uses the symbolism of a sweet wind of love to describe their feelings for each other. Louisa's “love song” was very weak. He wasn't angry, or pathetic, or lonely, or longing. He had “never more than muttered”. As opposed to Joe's song, which was loud and strong and robust. But his song “had another name”. This is it