![]() The very point of the novel is her claim of independence and the success she has at insisting on it. Also innovative, of course, is the way that Ruth engineers her own salvation, instead of relying on a suitor or a family member to save her. Walter’s hand, but instead Ruth insists on staying single and supporting herself. ![]() Fanny Fern actively resists ending the novel with a marriage, in fact, as she could easily have had Ruth accept Mr. The novel begins with a marriage rather than ending with one, which is a twist on the coming-of-age novel so popular at the time. The plot has a fairly traditional structure to it - a heroine happy but precarious, a heroine in trouble, a heroine in more trouble, a heroine in new kinds of trouble, a heroine saved - although within the traditional structure are some innovations. Fanny Fern’s 1855 novel Ruth Hallsurprised me a little bit, partly in terms of its plot, but even more so in terms of how it is written. ![]()
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