SOURCE: “The Great Goddess in New England: Mary Wilkins Freeman's ‘Christmas Jenny,’” in Studies in Short Fiction, Vol. 17, No. 2, Spring, 1980, pp. 157–64.

In the following essay, Sherman explicates the goddess imagery in the story “Christmas Jenny” from A New England Nun.

Mary Wilkins Freeman's story “Christmas Jenny” could easily pass unnoticed in a reading of her 1891 collection, A New England Nun. However, a closer look brings to light an archaic, even mythic, aspect to this “realistic” story. It is an aspect most clearly seen in the characterization of Christmas Jenny herself.¹

Christmas Jenny is Jenny Wrayne, a “love-cracked” spinster who has taken the animal and vegetable kingdoms under her sheltering wing. Within her spare mountain home she provides food for hungry birds, healing and sanctuary for wounded animals. She earns her living selling produce from a small garden in summer and evergreens at Christmas. This business gives rise to...