Themes and Genre
On the surface "The Speech of Polly Baker" appears to be a light-hearted and "amusing story". However, Franklin presents a protest against legislation that punished women for out-of-wedlock sexual relations by imposing fines and whippings while the father of the child went without punishment. Through her use of rhetorical questions to the magistrates, Franklin shows the inequity of the prevailing justice system.
Franklin creates a sympathetic fictional character in Polly Baker. According to literary critic Etta Madden, Baker's assertion that she's worthy of a statue in the town square reflects and mock's "Mather's memorializing of saints in his Magnalia Christi Americana" as well as the exucution sermons Puritans espoused to make "lessons of wayward females." Furthermore, Madden explains that Baker's rational speech shows echoes of Anne Hutchinson, although some might not find her speech rational at all. Therefore, Madden argues, the piece shows more complexity that is initially apparent. Another critic (Aldridge) argues that if taken out of the context of American literature, "The Speech of Polly Baker" can be considered as a "universal myth along the lines of Don Juan and Faust."
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