Some Freedom! by Christopher Ward

Rosalie grows up idolizing her bounding, extraordinary father while her mother teaches her at her knee from the Child's Bible, hymns, and deportment lessons, and attends a school run by Mrs. Impact, Miss Ouch, and Miss Keggs. She leaves school, takes a job under boss Simcox, keeps it until Simcox dies, then takes a job under boss Sturgiss as manager in a grand office on Lombard Street and the other thoroughfares that make up her stage. The War comes and goes with her indifferent permission. She meets Keggo, her old teacher, smiling fixedly in a drab street. She also meets Harry Occleve, a man she claims to despise but who smells of peat, soap, tobacco, whisky, and tweed; he embraces her at her uncle's house, and his only oath is "Mice and mumps," which she finds the height of perfection. They marry and have three children, Huggo, Doda, and Benji, though Rosalie, busy at the office, had never been told how children come about. Harry worries the children are strange: Huggo is crosseyed, Doda has two left feet, Benji's face seems on upside down. When Huggo declares he doesn't believe the whale swallowed Jonah, Rosalie panics, quits her job, and returns home to teach the children from "Line upon Line," "Step by Step," "Mother Goose," and the Rollo books. The children call the old lessons deadly dull and mid-Victorian, so she gives up and goes back to the office. Huggo is later jailed for highway robbery; visited in prison, he says he committed the crime because he hated being called "Huggo" instead of Hugh. Doda grows up through dances and powder and no knowledge of Jonah, then dies. Benji, bookish and bespectacled, his father's pride, collides with a train and dies, never having been taught about Jonah or train safety. Rosalie's standard answer to Harry's reproaches throughout is simply, "I am a woman." Afterward, Huggo is reformed and living in Canada, Rosalie stays home teaching Huggo's daughter about Jonah, Harry repeats "Mice and mumps" all day, and Doda and Benji remain dead.

By Christopher Ward · Genre: Modernist Fiction, Satire, Dark Comedy · 14 chapters · 2,556 words

First lines

Rosalie's first impression was that her father owned the world. Extraordinary father! Wonderful father! Wonderful, wonderful father! There he is bounding across a field before a bull. Wonderful bull! There is father. There is the bull. Two theres. One after the other. The bull there after father there. Wonderful theres! Entrancing theres!

Did her mother ever bound before a bull? Never. Her father was the only bounder in the family -- except her two brothers. All men were bounders. Wonderful, mysterious, entrancing men! Wonderful, wonderful men!

• Open reader

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Genres

• Modernist Fiction — The narrative employs experimental techniques characteristic of early 20th-century modernism, including fragmented timeline, intrusive narrator voice, stream-of-consciousness elements, and formal innovation that prioritizes style over linear plot.
• Satire — Extensively satirizes social conventions, gender roles, family structures, and societal expectations, particularly the false promise of 'freedom' for women, through ironic characterization and exaggerated situations.
• Dark Comedy — Presents tragic events including childhood deformities, deaths, and criminal behavior with comedic timing, absurdist humor, and irreverent treatment that creates ironic tension between grave content and playful tone.
• Domestic Fiction — Centers entirely on family life, marriage, motherhood, and household relationships, using the domestic sphere as the primary locus of conflict, meaning, and narrative exploration.

Tags

satire · dark humor · black comedy · motherhood · marriage · parental responsibility · family tragedy · childhood education · religious indoctrination · gender roles · women's autonomy · child loss

What this Textopian page supports

Some Freedom! is listed on Textopian as a short story by Christopher Ward, dated Date unknown.

This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.

• Work type: Short story
• Author: Christopher Ward
• Date: Date unknown
• Language: English
• Genres: Modernist Fiction, Satire, Dark Comedy, Domestic Fiction, Feminist Fiction
• Length: 2,556 words
• Structure: 14 chapters, 92 paragraphs
• Reading fit: Easy (6th Grade)

Good citation fit

• Work identity for Some Freedom! by Christopher Ward
• Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
• Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
• Readability and classroom-planning context
• Passage-specific claims should cite the exact /read/ URL for the relevant chapter or paragraph

Contents

• CHAPTER I
• CHAPTER II
• CHAPTER III
• CHAPTER IV
• CHAPTER V
• CHAPTER VI
• CHAPTER VII
• CHAPTER VIII
• CHAPTER IX
• CHAPTER X
• CHAPTER XI
• CHAPTER XII
• CHAPTER XIII
• CHAPTER XIV

More by Christopher Ward

• THE TRIUMPH OF THE NUT or TOO MANY MARRIAGES
• The Flame that Failed
• Glimpsing the Moon
• The Vanishing Point
• Babbitt (1922)
• Joseph and the Bright Shawl
• THE JUDGE or TURNING THE TEA TABLES
• The Perils of Peregrine
• All works by Christopher Ward