“A Mother in Mannville” takes place in a physically remote setting—an orphanage in the mountains, where bad weather sometimes cuts off the residents from the nearest town. The isolation mirrors the alienation and probable loneliness of the orphan boys themselves. They exist on the margins of both society and societal awareness, and though they presumably live in close quarters, they lack real interpersonal ties. Although the story provides no direct insight into Jerry’s thoughts, Rawlings implies that he at least feels such isolation keenly, as he seeks out contact with the narrator: “He made simple excuses to come and sit with me. I could no more have turned him away than if he had been physically hungry” (245).

The implication that the narrator might otherwise have turned Jerry away reflects her own very different relationship with solitude. For the narrator, isolation is necessary to complete her work, and she has sought it out for that purpose. The details that she reveals about her life—in particular, her travels to regions as far-flung as Mexico, Alaska, and Florida—suggest that, for her, solitude is not merely the absence of distraction but the positive freedom to do as she likes. For a woman of this era, marriage and children would all but inevitably impinge on such independence.