Korb has a master's degree in English literature and creative writing and has written for a wide variety of educational publishers. In the following essay, she discusses the Freeman's reversal of gender roles in "The Revolt of 'Mother."'

Freeman's short story "The Revolt of 'Mother"' reached such fame that it is reported that Theodore Roosevelt, who at the time was the governor of New York, recommended that mothers read it "for its strong moral lesson." Freeman herself hardly approved of the attention the story drew; in 1917, more than 25 years after its original publication, she made a public statement in the Saturday Evening Post about what was and still remains one of her most widely read stories: "It was an evil day I wrote that tale." She went on to explain, "In the first place all fiction ought to be true, and 'The Revolt of "Mother...