Most people, when forced to give up the one thing they truly love, would rather see it destroyed than have it destroyed. leave in the hands of another person. In “Old Woman Magoun”; by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman, the old woman is in this position. She must hand over custody of her granddaughter, Lily, to the child's father. Throughout the story, the old woman faces an inner struggle to care for her granddaughter and ultimately lose her. She approaches her struggle with a very realistic and human response. The old woman Magoun is a woman who refuses to be disobeyed or disagreed with. She exercises special command over all the members of her company. “No one had dared to openly contradict the old woman”; (Free Man, 362). The one person she can't make "visibly cower"; (361) is Nelson Barry, Lily's father. He is the only one who shows contempt towards the old woman. Old Magoun and Nelson Barry never agree in any way. The old woman has been particularly careful towards Barry since the death of her daughter and she had to take care of Lily. After an unwanted and unforeseen encounter between the girl and Barry, the old woman is informed that she must hand over the girl. Feeling helpless and having no control over the situation, she feels forced to make an important decision to prevent the girl from finding herself in what she believes would be a serious situation. The old woman Magoun most likely feels responsible for Lily's situation and the disappearance of her own daughter. and learned to fear men because of it. She is afraid of the girl's father because he represents the part of herself that she cannot control, Lily. She has no choice but to abandon her granddaughter and she can't bear to lose her to the man she despises, Nelson Barry. Facing the reality of losing Lily is more than the old woman is prepared for. In many of her stories, Freeman “invests power in women while simultaneously limiting their power”; (http://www.georgetown.edu/libraries/2). Old Magoun has a mysterious power over people, but that doesn't help her when it comes to keeping Lily. She still has to relinquish her control over the child and she has no power to change the circumstances. Freeman subjects the old woman to the “realities of 19th century New England”; (2). These realities are that a woman must respect her socially defined and accepted role and if she does not respect it, she will suffer the resulting consequences..