In "Old Woman Magoon", who is the biggest beast?Who has the most flaws and who is the most evil inside?

This is a very poignant question given the Naturalistic
perspective by which the story was written. Typical Naturalistic pieces exemplified the
importance of "man as a beast", or animalistic behavior by man. Therefore, your question
poses one which can be looked at as simplistic or
theoretical.

To begin, let us look at the simplistic answer
to your question. Many would argue that old woman Magoun is by far the biggest beast in
Freeman's story "Old Woman Magoun". There are many reason as to why one would consider
her behavior beastly.

First, Magoun keeps Lily, her
granddaughter under lock and key. To say that Lily is sheltered is an understatement.
The one time in which Magoun allows Lily to leave on her own is the turning point of the
story (she meets her father Nelson Barry for the first time on her life). Lily's life,
and that of Magoun, is changed forever.

Second, the fact
that Lily is sheltered pales to the fact that she remains childlike in her appearance
and actions (Lily still, at almost 14, plays with dolls). Lily is described through a
conversation of Magoun and a friend of Magoun's (Sally Jinks) in the following
way:

“Some
girls at her age is thinkin' about beaux instead of rag dolls” said Sally
Jinks.

The grandmother bristled. “Lily ain't big nor old
for her age,” said she. “I ain't in any hurry to have her git married. She ain't none
too strong.”

“She's got a good colour,” said Sally Jinks.
She was crocheting white cotton lace, making her thick fingers fly. She really knew how
to do scarcely anything except to crochet that coarse lace; somehow her heavy brain or
her fingers had mastered that.

“I know she's got a
beautiful colour,” replied Old Woman Magoun, with an odd mixture of pride and anxiety,
“but it comes an' goes.”

“I've heard that was a bad sign,”
remarked Sally Jinks, loosening some thread from her
spool.

One can tell from this
conversation that Lily is not necessarily healthy. This, again, can be contributed to
the care that Magoun takes in the girl.

Lastly, and perhaps
the most poignant example of Magoun's beastliness is the fact that she poisons Lily.
Magoun cannot bear to think of Lily living a life with her father and believes that
death would be better for Lily.

Now, onto the more
theoretical answer to the question. Naturalists believed in the power of nature over
man. Nature "decided" the outcome of all which happened in life. Therefore, one could
justify an argument that Nature (used capitalized because of personification typical in
the movement's texts) is the "biggest beast" in the story "Old Woman
Magoun".

Nature is not concerned with anything. It simply
exists and what happens as a result of Nature's powers is simply because of the theory
of the survival of the fittest (Charles Darwin and Herbert Spenser greatly influenced
Naturalistic writers). That being said, one could interpret the "cruelty" of Nature in
allowing a young girl to die as representing the grandest beast in the
text.

It is not Magoun who takes the life of young Lily; it
is, rather, the nightshade berry. Magoun did not create the berry- Nature did. Magoun
even, earlier in the story, told Lily that she could not have the berries. (Although her
exact words were "You can't have any now.")

So, depending
on your school of thought, either Magoun or Nature can be defined as the "biggest beast"
in the story "Old Woman Magoun".