Freewoman

One of my favorite things to do with stories is to look at the characters and Freeman's characters have all been interesting. When looking at Freeman's woman, I can see three levels of woman pretty easily.  In A New England Nun, Louissa is rather timid and actually waits 14 years for Joe to return. She seemed pretty accustomed to being on her own and quit on edge when Joe was in her home. She couldn't believe she was going to live with him. Even though she felt this way, she was still planning on marrying him. Luckily for each of them, Louissa overheard Joe speaking to Lily and realized neither of them wanted to get married so she was able to easily call off the wedding.
In The Revolt of Mother , Sarah openly tells her husband she wants a new house and that he promised her a new house on the spot he is building a new barn. For awhile she goes along with it, only complaining to her husband, but what more could she do? Once she has the chance she acts and pretty much gets what she wants, able to adapt the barn into adequate living space. It took some time for Sarah to act instead of speak, but when she did it made a much larger statement than anything she could say.
In Old Woman Magoun, the title character is a "strong" old woman in a sense. She has complete control over Lily's life, treating her like a child though she was becoming a young woman, and when she spoke to others in the town, it was with that "old lady" tone, at least that's how I read it, very forceful and unafraid to talk over men, even with what time period it was in.
I see Louissa as the character that fits the social norm the most, timid, waiting for the man to return. Sarah fell into her role, though she was outspoken about what she wanted, and eventually took action. Old Woman Magoun, who fit the role the least,  had life behind her in support and spoke with authority, and exhibited that authority over Lily. Interestingly, this order goes from youngest (Louissa) to oldest (Old Woman Magoun), and I would agree that many woman become more outspoken with age, even today. As they get older and more accustomed to their own role, not the role society deems for them, they become more outspoken and personally free.