The sisters led quiet lives, running their small inconspicuous shop outside of Stuyvesant Square, selling sewing materials, millinery supplies, and mending garments for their customers.
The sisters' lives change forever when Mr. Ramy, a local clockmaker and fellow small shop owner, enters, attempting to create a rift between them.
As time passes, the three grow closer, eventually leading to Mr. Ramy having dinner at the sisters shop on a nightly basis.
After Evelina follows her husband to New Orleans, Ann Eliza is left alone in the shop, facing hard economic times, and less customers due to having to cover both halves of the sisters work.
In the story, she symbolizes the unseen and complicated the lives of lower-class women, leaving them to navigate complex relationships and economic challenges on their own.
As they introduce Mr. Ramy into their lives, they begin to depend on him, primarily Evelina who seems him as an escape from her normal routine in the shop to enter a more “respectable” life as a wife and homemaker.
As their reliance on Mr. Ramy grows, the sisters lost their autonomy and become more entrapped with him, allowing in to be the decision maker and following his choices.
The clock is bought as a gesture of love from Ann Eliza to Evelina, with the intention of bringing a small amount of joy into the sister's otherwise dull lives.
This purchase can be seen as an act of optimism, and symbolizes Ann Eliza's hope for a brighter future despite the current financial situation.
Taking place in late 19th century New York City, the setting depicts the poverty, isolation, and constraining forces that the sisters live in.
The sisters' social and economic roles are a direct reflection of the constraints placed on women in the late 19th century.