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I believe that the true lens is based off of the symbolism that is hinted at through out the story. If you really pay attention the author compares Louisa and Joe to the animals she owns. Wilkins gives off the theme of responsibility and independence. In the story Louisa was left alone to mourn the deaths of her mother and brother by herself. This gives us a sense of independence Louisa gained from living and taking care of her self for numerous years until Joe came back. Louisa's responsibility of being able to keep up her house in good condition shows she is capable of not needing anyone to take care of her.

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"In that length of time much had happened. Louisa's mother and brother had died, and she was all alone in the world. But greatest happening of all -- a subtle happening which both were too simple to understand -- Louisa's feet had turned into a path, smooth maybe under a calm, serene sky, but so straight and unswerving that it could only meet a check at her grave, and so narrow that there was no room for any one at her side" (Freeman 6).

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Louisa has many repressed emotions. I believe she spiraled into this cleanliness obsessive person. Since her brother and mom died around the same time she was left to mourn alone since Joe was in Australia. Cleaning has positive affects to the mind such as releasing endorphins and improves focus. By Louisa living her "lavish" life style and keeping her house clean this may have helped her deal the deaths of her mother and brother.

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"Now she quilted her needle carefully into her work, which she folded precisely, and laid in a basket with her thimble and thread and scissors. Louisa Ellis could not remember that ever in her life she had mislaid one of these little feminine appurtenances, which had become, from long use and constant association, a very part of her personality" (Freeman 1). This evidence gives an example of her OCD and how she doesn't think she hasn't been perfect in her life.

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Louisa has obsessive neurosis. It is a neurotic disorder where repetitive impulses to perform certain acts in a ritualistic behavior. Louisa's compulsive neurosis is a dynamic tension between conscious desire and unconscious which is her repressed fears. In many scenes in this story it shows how Louisa keeps her house neat, tidy, and or in perfect condition. In one particular scene she believes that she hasn't not been perfect in her life.

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"Caesar at large might have seemed a very ordinary dog, and excited no comment whatever; chained, his reputation overshadowed him, so that he lost his own proper outlines and looked darkly vague and enormous. Joe Dagget, however, with his good-humored sense and shrewdness, saw him as he was. He strode valiantly up to him and patted him on the head, in spite of Louisa's soft clamor of warning, and even attempted to set him loose" (Freeman 9). This shows the connection she makes between Caesar and Joe.

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Louisa has a dog named Caesar that is kept chained up because he bit a person and she is scared of him. Throughout the story her fiancé Joe Daggett is depicted as a coarse and masculine disturbance to her feminine household. Louisa compares the fourteen of imprisonment between Joe and Caesar. She also has a canary which is comfortable being in its cage all the time. This symbolism seem to be compared to both characters.