"Pembroke": A Script of Decadence

Abstract

The article is an interpretation of Mary E. Wilkins Freeman’s novel Pembroke (1994). Even though it is set in the third decade of the 19th century, the year of publication suggests that it just as well refers to the condition of New England after the Civil War. Hit by a complex crisis, concerning demography, economy, and mores, after 1865 the region entered a stage of decadence. Wilkins Freeman diagnosed its symptoms, such as the collapse of interpersonal communication and the hypertrophy of individual will, showing that the portents of the decline of Puritan heritage had its roots in the first half of the century. With time, the symbolic system of New England culture collapsed and gave way to a new social order.