Daisy’s unwanted pregnancy and depression

Daisy Branning’s unwanted pregnancy and depression form a sustained crisis in which the consequences of Albert Pinnegar’s assault reach beyond the original abuse: Daisy must face a pregnancy she never chose, while the people around her struggle to protect her without being able to carry her distress for her. Her rejection of the unborn child is presented alongside the threats that helped silence her, her shrinking daily life, and the fear of what lies ahead. The state ends in tragedy when Daisy disappears during a solitary walk and her body is found in a canal.

Origins and Disclosure

Daisy’s pregnancy is rooted in Albert Pinnegar’s abuse of his authority. When she tells Sunday Small what happened, she explains that Pinnegar began summoning her to his office after Sunday had left. He hurt her, and when she threatened to tell, he threatened to send her brother, Tommy Branning, to Hatter’s Hall. The threat turned disclosure into a risk not only to Daisy but also to someone she loved. Her silence was therefore shaped by coercion, rather than by any freely made decision to conceal what had happened.

Sunday recognizes Daisy’s pregnancy by the change in her body and asks whether Pinnegar was responsible. Daisy confirms it, then describes the abuse and the threat against Tommy. Sunday considers reporting what she has learned to Lady Lavinia Huntley and Biddy Spooner, but remembers what happened to Cissie Burns and fears Daisy could suffer a similar fate. She chooses to keep the matter quiet temporarily, urges Daisy to wear a loose dress so that the pregnancy will not be noticed, and promises that they will decide what to do. Her protective embrace offers immediate comfort, but it cannot remove the danger or resolve Daisy’s future.

Cissie’s earlier experience gives this hesitation its force. Cissie had confided that she was pregnant and believed that Pinnegar had caused it. She had been told she would be sent somewhere pleasant in the countryside, where she could be cared for and keep her baby. Instead, an asylum carriage arrived to take her to Hatter’s Hall. Cissie protested that she had been promised a place where she could care for her child, and named Pinnegar as the man responsible. Miss Frost rejected her accusation and disparaged her character as the men approached. Sunday later recounted the episode to Lady Lavinia Huntley, including that Cissie was taken away and that Sunday never heard from her again. This history explains why Sunday fears that exposing Pinnegar might lead not to protection but to another coercive removal.

Rejection and Despair

After Pinnegar loses his position, Daisy remains miserable. She tells Sunday that she hates the child growing inside her and sometimes wishes she could go to sleep and never wake up rather than give birth. Sunday responds by urging her to believe that she might feel differently when she sees and holds the baby. Daisy firmly rejects that hope, even while acknowledging the kindness shown by Lady Lavinia Huntley and Annie, who has offered her a place to live. Support surrounds her, but it does not change her feelings about the pregnancy.

As the pregnancy advances, Daisy’s distress becomes visible in her conduct and physical decline. By the approach of Christmas, her stomach is pronounced, yet she has made no preparations for the baby. She shows little interest in her birthday cake, in the holiday, or in the attempts others make to cheer her. Her appetite is poor despite Annie’s efforts to tempt her with food; she is described as thin, with dark circles under her eyes, and increasingly withdrawn. These details make her depression more than a passing expression of unhappiness: it has narrowed her engagement with ordinary life and left her physically depleted.

During a walk with Sunday, Daisy feels the baby move and reacts with horror. She refuses to let Sunday touch her stomach, calls the child evil, and explains that she cannot bear the part of Pinnegar she believes the child will carry. She asks whether the baby could be given away, imagining that someone else might want it. Sunday counters that an unwanted child might grow up knowing its mother did not want it. She also draws on her own abandonment at the workhouse and the childhood fantasy that her mother might one day return. Her appeal gives voice to the possible cost of rejection, but it does not make Daisy’s burden disappear. Daisy hangs her head, ashamed of her feelings, while continuing to believe that no one else can carry what she is facing.

Isolation and Final Disappearance

As the new year approaches, Daisy sees the coming birth as an unavoidable change that will remake her life. On the night of a party, she lies alone in a dark room and says she is not in the mood to celebrate. She declines Sunday’s offer to light a lamp and read to her, preferring to be by herself, though she does not want to spoil the evening for her friend. The scene brings together her withdrawal and her awareness of the future: the pregnancy is advancing, but she cannot welcome what it promises.

After Christmas, Daisy’s spirits sink further. She sometimes lacks the energy to get out of bed and, when she does, goes alone for walks in whatever weather there is, with her head bent. Annie worries about the risks of walking so late in the pregnancy, but Daisy insists on getting fresh air. Although she has always returned before, Sunday and the others begin to fear that her depression may lead her to end her life. Sunday and Tommy wait tensely for her return; Sunday even works by lamplight to let out a dress for Daisy. Their concern records both their care and its limits: Daisy is not a prisoner, and they cannot simply prevent her from going out.

When Daisy does not come home, Sunday tries to reassure Tommy, but the fear that has shadowed the household becomes explicit. The authorities eventually report that a young woman who was far along in pregnancy has been found dead in the canal, and that her description matches the missing Daisy. Tommy is asked to identify the body. His cry of grief and Sunday’s own grief mark the end of Daisy’s pregnancy and depression in death. The account establishes the discovery and identification; it does not establish that Daisy deliberately entered the canal, so her death cannot be treated as a confirmed suicide.

Significance

Daisy’s story contrasts practical kindness with the limits of care. Sunday shelters her, Annie offers a home, and Lady Lavinia Huntley provides financial help, yet none of these gestures can undo the assault, restore Daisy’s sense of choice, or guarantee that she will survive the pregnancy. The narrative does not present her rejection of the child as simple cruelty: Daisy connects the pregnancy to Pinnegar and to the threat he used to keep her silent. Her wish to give the baby away emerges from that history and from despair, while Sunday’s own experience of abandonment makes her fear the harm an unwanted child might suffer.

The parallel with Cissie shows how institutional power shapes the women’s choices. Cissie’s promised care gave way to removal to Hatter’s Hall, while Daisy’s friends hesitate to report Pinnegar because they fear a repetition of that outcome. The two pregnancies are distinct, but the earlier case determines what Sunday thinks may happen if she seeks help. Together, their stories expose a world in which an unmarried pregnant girl may be disbelieved, shamed, separated from her child, or left without meaningful control over her future. Daisy’s death closes her individual story without resolving those conditions; the care offered by those around her remains real, but it cannot substitute for safety, justice, or a choice she was denied.