84 pages • 2 hours read
Ken FollettA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Born into a family of prosperous wool merchants, Caris is driven to create a more meaningful life than the roles available to women will allow her. As a character, she is primarily motivated by altruism and places a high value on personal autonomy. Her struggle in the novel is to live out these values while still maintaining her freedom.
As a girl, she chafes against expectations from her father, Petranilla, and Cecilia. Respectively, they expect she will pursue life as a helpmeet to her father, become a rich merchant’s wife, or enter the nunnery to devote her life to service to others. The conflict with these expectations intensifies when she engages romantically with Merthin. She wants to maintain her sexual freedom and avoid mothering because she sees that life as too oppressive for her. She thus refuses marriage with Merthin and aborts her fetus to avoid becoming a mother.
When she is forced to enter the convent, she is freed from the expectation of marriage and childbearing; her advancement through the ranks of leadership allows her enough scope to serve others and engage in meaningful professional work. Her renunciation of her vows is a pivotal moment when she rejects those constraints in favor of marriage.
By Ken Follett
A Column of Fire
A Column of Fire
Ken Follett
A Place Called Freedom
A Place Called Freedom
Ken Follett
Edge of Eternity
Edge of Eternity
Ken Follett
Eye of the Needle
Eye of the Needle
Ken Follett
Fall Of Giants
Fall Of Giants
Ken Follett
Lie Down with Lions
Lie Down with Lions
Ken Follett
Never
Never
Ken Follett
The Evening and the Morning
The Evening and the Morning
Ken Follett
The Hammer of Eden
The Hammer of Eden
Ken Follett
The Pillars of the Earth
The Pillars of the Earth
Ken Follett
Winter of the World
Winter of the World
Ken Follett
View Collection
View Collection
View Collection
View Collection
View Collection
View Collection
View Collection
View Collection
View Collection
View Collection