Lovisa In Dinesen's Short Story 'The Ring'

In the short story “The Ring”, a young bride Lovisa finds herself face to face with a thief,

and in their brief interactions she realizes how spoiled she has been, and how imperfect the

world actually is. I think that this is best demonstrated in one of the last lines of the short story:

“Have you any idea where you lost it?” asks Sigmund, the husband, and she answers “No, I have

no idea at all.” (Dinesen 5). This is an important quote because it symbolizes her true coming of

age and her growth from a childish figure into a more mature woman.

The ring represents who Lovisa was before and the life that she lived. This is most

clearly shown in her childish act to hide inside the bushes to see her husband’s reaction when

she was

This is shown when she leaves the grove to regroup with her husband

instead of continuing to play tricks on him.

The quote mentioned above, where she lies about not only losing her ring, but also that

she doesn’t know where she left it, is a culmination of the idea of coming of age. The ring

represents not only their marriage, but also the blissful and ignorant life she was living. When

she attempts to give the ring to the sheep thief, she is giving away what she sees as a happy life.

However, when the sheep thief rejects it, she realizes that the sheep thief does not want this

ignorant life either. She then comes to realize that the poor are not incarnations of greed, rather

they are human who have needs just as she does. She does not pick up the ring, not only

because she does not want it, but also because the knowledge that she has gained cannot be

forgotten, and she can no longer return to the ignorant life. As stated previously, when she

reunites with her husband, she is already a different person, one that is more mature and

understanding. When he asks her if she knew where she left the ring, she repeatedly denies it,

saying that she “Has no idea at all.” This is because although it would be fairly trivial for her