Sister Louise Character Analysis

Sister Louise is the principal of St. Martha’s. Though she’s a nun, Josie describes her as “the most liberated” woman she knows. Sister Louise doesn’t wear a habit and seems to know everything about the students in her school—and she also admits at one point that she rode a motorcycle when she was a young woman. But though Josie admires Sister Louise, she also resents the woman for being nosy and somewhat judgmental. Josie finds it extremely obnoxious when Sister Louise warns Josie not to have sex with Jacob, and she’s incensed when she learns that Sister Louise gave Ivy the role of school captain when Josie won the election. But Sister Louise is one of Josie’s most important mentors and, in explaining why she didn’t make Josie school captain, she encourages Josie to think for herself and be a dependable leader. As much as Josie resents Sister Louise, she also realizes Sister Louise is right—and later credits Sister Louise’s talk as a pivotal moment in her process of becoming “emancipated.”