What is The Anchoress?

The Anchoress is the subject matter of Evie's thesis, a nun who is walled up to pray and deepen her faith and commitment to God. Evie surmises that her power is in her silence, yet Hazel, her colleague, proposes a new theory that perhaps the Anchoress's power is in who she marries, as she essentially becomes the bride of Christ. The Anchoress symbolizes Kitty, or more broadly, all of the high society women who marry strategically, and become consummate hostesses to those on the upper echelon of high society. Kitty is walled in by her silence, yet her power is in her marriage to Ogden.