"She Went by Gently"-Paul Vincent Carroll, Responses

A gift of Baptism is the ability to love others as God loves us. How is this ability seen in the women’s treatment of the girl?

God loves unconditionally and irrevocably with commitment and self-sacrifice. He does not judge anyone on the basis of any discriminatory factors such as race or cultural background. In a similar way the woman is able to love everyone around her. She expresses love even for the girl who was bearing a child because of promiscuous behavior. She expresses it in her firm but kind actions toward the girl. The woman comforts her in a time of distress and encourages a continuation of life and reform. Then the woman baptizes the child so that the child may too have the ability to love in its life.

At the end of the story the woman says in regard to the infant, “I saved him.” What does she mean by that statement?

The woman has saved the infant through Baptism meaning that the infant has been cleansed of original sin and welcomed as a child of God and member of the Mystical Body of Christ. In addition with reference to the first question, she has bestowed upon the infant an ability to love as God loves. The infant is given not only the life from his mother but also life from the Baptism because now the infant can grow in the Church and love with commitment. I saved him. The woman saved the infant in the spiritual sense dictated by the church.

The author describes the journey of the woman to her own home. What is the purpose of this section of the story? What is he trying to convey about the woman through his descriptions?

This section of the story elaborates on a deeper level the woman’s connection with God and her spiritual sense that she applies to all the things in her life from feeding her husband to the scenery around her. She is able to pinpoint God and his goodness in everything and holds no contempt for anything. She has such spiritual awareness that she can look at the stream and the flower and interpret it as she did in relation to Baptism. The author is conveying her thorough understanding of the sacrament of Baptism and also the importance of this sacrament. The end emphasizes the woman’s faith and love.