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Lily Daw And The Three Ladies Essay

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Love to Relation to Society Eudora Welty’s short story, Lily Daw and The Three Ladies is about a mentally retarded young girl who has decided to make a big life decision. This causes conflict with the three ladies that have helped taken care of her since her mother died, because they too have made a decision for Lily without her knowledge. The main focus of the story is love in relation to society. Welty uses lily and the three ladies to argue the strict societal values that the ladies follow and how lily is a free spirit. The conflict between Lily and the ladies started right off at the beginning of the story when they discuss the letter that Mrs. Carson received from the feeble-mined institution in Ellisville, where they want to send Lily. …show more content…

The hope chest that Lily had packed only had three things in it, two bars of soap and a green wash cloth. This symbolizes how simple Lily’s life is and also how simple minded Lily is. She only has four things that mean everything to her and as long as she has them she is happy where ever she is at. The ladies think the conflict is resolved and they made the best decision for her and their community when she is aboard the train and getting ready to leave for Ellisville. When one of the ladies runs into the xylophone player that Lily had wanted to marry before the ladies talked her out of it. The ladies sharply change their minds about Lily going to Ellisville they want her to marry after all. This reason is because they no longer will have to pay for her way to Ellisville. They quickly take her off the train, in all of the commotion they forget the only thing Lily loves her hope chest. They reversed their decision and now are pressuring Lily to marry, while Lily pleads, “But I don’t want to get married . . . I’m going to Ellisville” (11). The conflict of the story still remains the ladies want to decide Lily’s future because they don’t think she is able to but Lily is wanting to decide her own path in life. Welty states in the end of the story that Lily silently hands her head knowing she is defeated as she watches her hope chest go down the train tracks. At this point the hope chest now symbolizes her loss in her life

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