“The Little Room”

When I first read this text by Madelene Yale Wynn, I initially only noticed the supernatural feeling I got from the fact that the room was seemingly changing from a china cabinet to the unique room. Now, after attending lecture and learning about the literature of women in the gothic period I can interpret this reading in a very different way that I feel that I can easily relate to. 

Margaret’s mother discovered the “little room” when she was a young girl, free from all of the responsibilities of what the society at the time thought a woman should be. When she opened the door, she entered into a world of adventure and fantasy. In the future, when Margaret’s mother returns, she is now married and is a member of the adult society. Therefore, Margaret’s mother has no room in her life for the adventure and fantasy that came with the “little room” and she now discovers a china cabinet in the place of her beloved room. The china cabinet is a very literal representation of the expected role of women in society because it represents their role in the home. This situation is paralleled in Margaret’s own discovery of the room. When she was young she discovered the “little room” but once she was married and had joined the world of women in society that was full of expectations to be domestic, she discovers the china cabinet. 

In my interpretation, Wynn writes this piece to show how women in the society she knew were so full of life and had the ability to dream when they were young, however, once they reach a certain age all fantasy they had in their childhood must be destroyed and they must be domestic and confine their lives to the private sphere. A question I am still left with after completing this reading is the role of the aunts, I am not sure if Wynn intended them to appear as if they honestly knew nothing about the situation, or if the aunts were the ones causing the change in the room in order to show the women their roles in society.