Quote 1
"There's to be no more scribbling, no more foolishness. You're to come home and take up your duties and responsibilities. If you do, I promise I will do my best to forget any of this ever happened."
"I can't. You know I can't." (25.malediction.8-9)
Mattie overhears a conversation between Miss Wilcox and her husband through an open window; he insists on asserting his husbandly rights, but she refuses. We think it's because she thinks she has a duty to her craft of writing and to women who might want to follow in her steps. It might not seem like it at first, but Miss Wilcox is willing to sacrifice the safety and security of marriage—remember, we're in 1906—in the name of pursuing her dreams and helping change the world, one poem at a time.
Quote 2
"My husband is on his way, Mattie. My sister wired that he's a day away at most. If I'm still here when he arrives, the next stop for me is a doctor's office. And then a sanatorium and so many drugs pushed down my throat, I won't be able to remember my own name, much less write."
"He can't do that."
"He can. He's a powerful man with powerful friends." (38.threnody.37-39)
It's not just the men in rural New York who have power, and here Miss Wilcox admits that her husband will do everything to keep her from writing and embarrassing him and his reputation. To him, she's no more than a problem that must be dealt with. And it's scary to Mattie how much power a husband has over his wife. Heck, it's scary to us over a hundred years later.
Quote 3
"She wants to go, Mr. Gokey. Very badly," Miss Wilcox said.
"Well, I blame you for that, ma'am. You went and put ideas in her head. I haven't got the money to send her. And even if I did, why would I send my girl where she don't know anyone? Away from her home and her family, with nobody to look after her?" (17.furtive.34-35)
One of the greatest obstacles to social mobility is the lack of money (which remains as true today as it was during 1906), but Pa seems to be hiding behind this reality. Of much greater worry to him is the fact that he would be sending his oldest daughter into the unknown world, one where he fears he might lose her and she might lose herself. Fear of the unknown is a powerful motivator to stay put in society.
Quote 4
"It's wonderful here in the woods," Miss Wilcox said, swerving to avoid a squirrel. "Such freedom! You can do whatever you like and no one minds." No, but how they talk! I thought. Glean, my word of the day that day, is a good word. It is old and small, not showy. It has a simple meaning—to gather after the reapers—and then meanings inside the meanings, like images in a prism. It is a farming word, but it fits people other than farmers. Aunt Josie never bent her back in a field one day in her life, but she is a gleaner. She combs other people's leavings—hints, hearsay, dropped words—looking for nuggets of information, trying to gather enough bits together to make a whole story. (22.glean.25-27)
This is the crux of life in a small town: everyone gets all up in your business. Gossip runs rampant, secrets are impossible, and Aunt Josie is the manifestation of all of these meddling traits. Miss Wilcox hasn't yet realized that even though there are striking differences between rural and urban life, social rules and restrictions exist in both of them. And often, these rules and restrictions are far more similar than different.
Quote 5
"He says you are obscene. And when Comstock says something, the entire country listens. You are doing grievous injury to the names of Wilcox and Baxter, Emily. I will seek help for you if you refuse to seek it yourself."
"Meaning what, Teddy?"
"My meaning is perfectly clear."
"No, it damn well isn't! Have some guts for once in your life! Say what you mean!"
"You leave me no choice, Emily. If you do not come home—on my conditions—I will sign you over to a doctor's care." (25.malediction.16-20)
As Mattie overhears the conversation between Miss Wilcox and her husband Theodore, the importance of name and reputation, as well as the power held by men, becomes clear. Teddy is far more concerned for his reputation than he is with his wife's desires. Plus we see that social pressures exist not just in small communities but on larger national scales as well.