Ruth Hall
By Fanny Fern

Characters:
By Shay Driscoll and Jesica Berlinger

Ruth Hall:

Ruth is the protagonist of the story. She captures the readers’ attention through her kind nature and perseverance throughout the novel. This is illustrated in the story by the way she fights to support her children and realize her dream of being a writer.

Ruth proves to be a round character, displaying complex personality traits and inner conflicts. She struggles with wanting to find the good in the people around her and having to accept the fact that they uncompassionate and unsupportive of her and her children.

Ruth’s personality also develops throughout the story, proving her to be a dynamic character. The reader sees her transform into a strong willed, independent women from the passive, anxious person she was at the beginning of the book. This can best be seen in her struggle to become a writer, where at first she struggles with being respected and receiving her just pay and credit for her articles to one of the highest paid and renowned writers of her time.

Doctor and Mrs. Hall:

The Halls are the antagonists of the story. They constantly criticize and ridicule Ruth for her behavior and unfairly blame her for the ill-fated course of events that haunts her life, including the death of her husband and youngest daughter. They also often behave in a manner that contradicts how they preach that others should live, showing them to be hypocritical. For example, Mrs. Hall ridicules Ruth for being frivolous yet dresses and lives in excess.

Dr. and Mrs. Hall are static, flat characters in the book. They are portrayed as entirely insincere and vindictive through their interactions with Ruth and her children and other characters in the novel. Their personalities do not evolve any throughout the story, and at the very end when Ruth has become a successful writer, Mrs. Hall continues to insist that she is unreserved and a poor role model for her children.

Mr. Ellet:

Mr. Ellet is Ruth’s father. He, like the Halls, is not very sensitive to Ruth’s situation, but proves to be slightly more round than them. He struggles with some feelings of reserve about his treatment of Ruth, but is too self-absorbed to give her the full support she needs. Even though he has plenty of money he is still concerned that if he helps Ruth too much he will sacrifice his own comfortable lifestyle.

Hyacinth:

Hyacinth is Ruth’s brother, and, like his father, is not very receptive of Ruth. He does not care about Ruth’s situation beyond how it reflects on him. He refuses to aid her in her quest to become a writer, and even after she becomes successful he remains opposed to her writing.

Harry Hall:

Harry is Ruth’s devoted husband. He is the first loving person in Ruth’s life and is very compassionate and attentive to her needs. He dies of typhoid fever, and his death begins the struggle Ruth goes through that is the main conflict in the book.

Katie and Nettie:
Katie and Nettie are Ruth’s daughters. They are the last two people that Ruth has to cling to, and their wellbeing is the reason that Ruth decides to become a writer and why she struggles so hard to become a successful author.

Mr. Walter:

Mr. Walter is the editor of The Household Magazine that Ruth writes for. Before he hired Ruth he greatly admired her writings and wanted to give her a job at his newspaper that would pay her far better than the other publications she was writing for. Mr. Walter became a very close friend to Ruth, helping advance her career in many ways. He shared a brotherly connection with Ruth, one that she did not get from her own Brother. Mr. Walter, in character, is a very honorable, fair, and generous man.

Mr. Lescom and Mr. Tibbets:

These are Ruths first editors that she wrote for. Mr. Lescom was the editor for The Standard and Mr. Tibbets was the editor for The Pilgrim. Both of them, knowingly, did not pay Ruth the compensation she deserved. They were very stingy with their money and didn’t want to pay Ruth the rightful amount of money even though her writing greatly increased the paper’s circulation.

Plot:
By Shay Driscoll

The book begins with Ruth Hall being sent to boarding school after her mother dies. Ruth’s experience at Madame Moreau’s school for girls proves to be very difficult for her; she is criticized by the other girls for being too studious, and often finds herself very lonely because her father, Mr. Ellet, and brother, Hyacinth, rarely show affection towards her. However, Ruth soon finds the love she has been deprived of when she marries Harry Hall.

Ruth then moves into Harry’s parent’s house, Dr. and Mrs. Hall, who prove to be as critical and uncaring of Ruth as her father and brother. Mrs. Hall constantly critiques Ruth and ridicules her. Harry, a devoted and caring yet slightly aloof husband, does not notice his mother’s treatment of Ruth, and Ruth, not wanting to upset her husband, does not mention it to him. This situation continues until shortly after Ruth has her first child, Daisy, and she and Harry then move to their own home.

A while after this her daughter dies, and Ruth and Harry move to another house to try and escape from the sad memory of Daisy’s death. Ruth and Harry then have two more children, Katie and Nettie. Unfortunately, not long after this Ruth experiences more loss when Harry dies.

Ruth is then faced with the difficult decision of giving custody of her two daughters to Dr. and Mrs. Hall, who are adamant that they should get Harry’s children, or keep them and try and support them by herself.

This begins a difficult chapter in Ruth’s life as she struggles to support them. She receives very little help from her father and in-laws, so she is forced to try and make it off unskilled work that pays very little. She soon realizes that she cannot make it off her wages and decides to find better work. This proves very difficult for Ruth, and she faces a lot of rejection before she is able to find employment. She decides to try and establish a career as a writer, thinking that her brother, who is the editor of The Irving Magazine, will offer her work or refer her to some of his connections. She is mistaken on this account, however, and he not only refues to help her but advises her to seek another form of employment. Eventually she is given the opportunity to write for a newspaper called The Standard under the pen name ‘Floy’.

However, life remains difficult for Ruth. She is faced with the prejudices women were often subjected to during that time, and finds herself receiving less pay for her articles than that of her male counterparts. Even with the increase in her wages, she continues to find it difficult to support her children, and agrees to let Katie, her oldest daughter, live with Dr. and Mrs. Hall for a couple of weeks. However, Ruth finds herself unable to raise the money necessary for her to be able to feed both Katie and Nettie, so Katie is forced to remain with her grandparents until Ruth’s situation improves.

With even more incentive to earn higher wages, Ruth works still harder to make it as a columnist. Finally, Ruth is offered a position at The Household Messenger by its editor Mr. Walter. The position is contingent upon her agreeing to write exclusively for his magazine, and in return she would receive higher wages than she was previously bringing in while writing fewer articles per issue. At this news Ruth’s outlook suddenly becomes more optimistic, and she come still closer to being able to bring Katie home.

Upon Mr. Walter’s encouragement, Ruth begins to write a book that is a composite of her past articles and eventually gets it published. The book proves to be extremely successful, much to Ruth’s happiness, for the money she receives from the sales is enough to allow her to get Katie back from Dr. and Mrs. Hall and move them all to a nicer home.

Before Ruth can settle down to her peacefully life she is faced with one more affliction. She plans to move her daughters to a different part of the country and is temporarily staying in a hotel when it catches fire and they are narrowly saved by a brave fireman named Johnny Galt. After this, however, Ruth successfully makes her escape from her old life of suffering and loss and starts a new life with her two daughters.

Conflicts:
By Shay Driscoll

Primary Conflict:

After Ruth’s husband dies she is forced to try to support her children off of a women’s wages, because her in-laws, Dr. and Mrs. Ruth refuse to help her, and her father only is willing to give up a small sum for a short period of time in order to alleviate some of the financial stress she faces. She is forced to work at various low paying jobs until she makes the bold decision to become a writer. Ruth’s experiences illustrate well the prejudices faced by women at the time as she is at first turned down for jobs she is overqualified for for no other reason than because she is a women, and then forced to accept lower wages than a man would receive for the same work. The story exemplifies the discrimination women faced as the book recounts the struggle Ruth goes through as she fights the stereotypes her sex is labeled with, and overcomes the prejudice that had for so long afflicted her life.

Secondary Conflict:

After Ruth decides to refuse the Halls offer to take her children, Mrs. remains determined to get custody of them. She devises a plan to get Katie from her mother on the basis that the child will only remain with them for a couple of weeks. Ruth accepts because at that time she was not earning enough to pay for all of them. However, as Mrs. Hall foresaw, Ruth is not able to come up with the money to bring Katie back home, and so the child is forced to stay with her grandparents who treat her cruelly and attempt to turn her against her mother. Ruth struggle is not to earn enough to get Katie back from her grandparents, which she eventually does with the sale of her book. At this time the family is reunited and Ruth and her children are free from the vindictive treatment Dr. and Mrs. Hall.

Theme:
By Kayla Bates

The major theme in Ruth Hall by Fanny Fern is economic independence. During her time era woman depended on marriage for economic support but when Ruth finds herself widowed and barely making it she realizes the importance of being able to economically support yourself. She gains this independence through her determination, perseverance, and self reliance. The many difficult trials placed on her throughout the novel help her see just how important it is that she can support herself and her children.

In Ruth Hall it was relevant for Hall to follow her own agency. After the death of her husband people hope she will settle down again or give in and through this, she sees the damage that can be done through relying on others. Even though many people try to hold her back from gaining her independence she over comes their control. When she get’s set back, she constantly preservers and believes in herself to succeed and to be her own person. Many actions Hall does such as hiring help, gallivanting in the woods, and having people over late, seem improper to others but this does not stop Hall, for she believes in living life by her own rules. She is determined to make it on her own, because evidently no one was going to help her. Her own brother, father, and in laws refuse to aid her and constantly bring her down by their lack of faith and insults. At the time of gaining this independence Hall was aware of the scrutiny she would receive but she also knew the respect that she would gain after she truly held economic independence. Many women of the twentieth century rely on family and neighbors and Ruth went out there and made connections in order to succeed. Even though she is pressured to be a traditional woman and to accept that she as a woman cannot do it on her own, she refuses to conform. The end of the novel is the when the true light of this theme appears, she does not remarry, is completely capable of economically supporting herself and children, and makes a very successful career for herself.

Writing Style:
By Taylor Stoll

Ruth Hall is written very differently from other novels of the time period. Fanny Fern’s career as a journalist shows through, as it is uncommon for the chapters to be more than two pages long and the entire text is about two hundred pages. Additionally, the majority of the events are explained to the reader through character monologue, there is very little dialogue between characters. This novel was unusual in that Fern purposefully tried not to conform to the typical role of the woman’s place in society. Instead, Ruth is a very strong, heroic figure, who becomes integrated in the “men’s” workplace of journalism, raises her children, is able to fend for herself, and does not get remarried at the end of the story. As a result, Fern’s intended and actual audience was mainly female because she discussed not only woman’s rights but also class, status, and social structure.

It is also important to note that Ruth Hall is largely an autobiographical story of Fanny Fern’s own life, and was supposed to remain anonymous because she put many of her own terrible experiences within the book. Her identity was publicly revealed when another male journalist became angry with his portrayal in the book, and Fern received harsh reviews and negative attention.

Predictions:
By Jesica Berlinger
Before:

My prediction for the second half of Ruth Hall is that Ruth will finally strike good luck with her employment situation. I think she will find this opportunity at a time when she is really desperate and feels that she has reached her lowest point. Obviously, I think the opportunity will be something having to do with becoming a newspaper writer. Then once she starts writing I think that the there will be some controversy amongst her father and the Hall in-laws. In the end, I think she will keep working hard and become a successful writer and make enough money to support her two daughters and move out of the crummy apartment.

After:

The first part of the prediction was that Ruth was going to strike good luck with her employment situation at her lowest point. This certainly came true for Ruth. She had just had to let her daughter go live with her grandparents who are dreadful and treat Katie unfairly and then she found a job writing for the newspaper. First she got a writing job at The Standard and then a second job at The Pilgrim. She was writing a column almost every day for a small amount of pay, but was able to at least support her one daughter and save up to get Katie back from Mr. and Mrs. Hall. The second part of the prediction was that there was going to be some controversy. Well, there was a lot of controversy with the Hall’s because they didn’t want to Katie to go back to Ruth. Also, there wasn’t so much controversy with Ruth’s father, but more her brother Hyacinth. Hyacinth doesn’t help Ruth at all when she is trying to get work and he also tries to sabotage her writing career because he doesn’t think she is adequate enough and that she doesn’t deserve any of the fame or recognition. The third part of the prediction was that Ruth becomes a successful writer and earns enough money to support her two daughters and move out of the crummy apartment. This also came true. Ruth met Mr. Walter, editor of The Household Messenger, and he gave her a great paying job. Then, she decided to publish her works which becomes very popular, enabling her to move to get Katie back and move to a hotel. Although, the apartment does catch on fire, Ruth still finds her happy ending as she and her two girls move away to start a new life.

"That Tells the Whole Story"