Daddy Long Legs Essay

Jerusha Abbott was brought up at the John Grier Home, an old-fashioned orphanage. The children were wholly dependent on humanity and had to wear other peoples cast-off clothes. Jerushas unusual first pertain was selected by the matron off a gravestone (she hates it and uses Judy instead), while her sur bod was selected out of the phone book. At the age of 18, she has completed her education and is at loose ends, still working in the dormitories at the institution where she was brought up.One day, by and by the asylums trustees have made their monthly visit, Judy is informed by the asylums downcast matron that one of the trustees has offered to pay her way through college. He has spoken to her former teachers and thinks she has potential to become an splendiferous writer. He will pay her tuition and as well give her a generous monthly allowance. Judy moldiness write him a monthly letter, because he believes that letter-writing is important to the development of a writer.However , she will never cut his identity she must address the letters to Mr. John Smith, and he will never reply. Jerusha catches a glimpse of the shadow of her benefactor from the back, and knows he is a tall long-legged man. Because of this, she jokingly calls him Daddy-Long-Legs. She attends a girls college, but the name and location are never identified. Men from Princeton University are frequently mentioned as dates, so it might be assumed that her college is one of the Seven Sisters. It was certainly on the East Coast.She illustrates her letters with childlike line drawings, also created by Jean Webster. The book chronicles Jerushas educational, personal, and social growth. One of the first things she does at college is to change her name to Judy. She designs a rigorous reading program for herself and struggles to gain the basic cultural knowledge to which she, growing up in the bleak environment of the orphan asylum, was never exposed. At the end of the book, the identity of Daddy -Long-Legs is revealed.