Born into a family of prosperous wool merchants, Caris is driven to create a more meaningful life than the roles available to women will allow her. As a character, she is primarily motivated by altruism and places a high value on personal autonomy. Her struggle in the novel is to live out these values while still maintaining her freedom.

As a girl, she chafes against expectations from her father, Petranilla, and Cecilia. Respectively, they expect she will pursue life as a helpmeet to her father, become a rich merchant’s wife, or enter the nunnery to devote her life to service to others. The conflict with these expectations intensifies when she engages romantically with Merthin. She wants to maintain her sexual freedom and avoid mothering because she sees that life as too oppressive for her. She thus refuses marriage with Merthin and aborts her fetus to avoid becoming a mother.

When she is forced to enter the convent, she is freed from the expectation of marriage and childbearing; her advancement through the ranks of leadership allows her enough scope to serve others and engage in meaningful professional work. Her renunciation of her vows is a pivotal moment when she rejects those constraints in favor of marriage.