Act One
Around the beginning of the 1960s, Mrs Johnstone is deep in debt and cannot support her seven children after her husband walks out on her, so she takes a job as a cleaner for a wealthy local couple, Mr and Mrs Lyons. Soon she finds out she is pregnant, but she can barely afford to raise another child. Mrs. Lyons is desperate for a baby but is unable to conceive, and would like to adopt a child but her husband does not agree. Mrs Johnstone finds out that she is going to have twins and explains to Mrs Lyons that she cannot afford to raise two more babies. Mrs Lyons then suggests that Mrs Johnstone gives one of the babies to her. Mrs Johnstone apprehensively agrees to this and is made to swear on the Bible to keep to the deal. Mrs Johnstone has the twins (Mickey and Edward), but then regrets having agreed to give one away. After keeping her deal with Mrs Lyons, she lies to her other children, saying that the other baby had died and gone to heaven.
Mrs. Johnstone continues to work for the rich family, but Mrs Lyons soon feels that Mrs Johnstone is paying too much attention to the child that she has given up to her. She fires Mrs Johnstone, who wants to take the baby with her, but Mrs Lyons plays on Mrs Johnstone's superstitions by telling her that "if twins separated at birth learn that they
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Johnstone kept, meets Edward, the other twin, by chance, and after learning they share the same birthday, the two boys make a pact to become blood brothers, with Mickey calling Edward "Eddie". Mrs Johnstone finds them and sends Eddie away, telling him not to come round again or else the "Bogey-man" will get him. Later in the day, Mickey goes to Eddie's house, but Mrs Lyons throws him out when she comes to the realization that he is Edward's separated twin. She and Eddie argue on the subject, and Eddie swears at her. Mrs Lyons slaps him and immediately regrets her reaction. She realises that he has learned to swear from
Mickey lives in poverty with his biological mother Mrs Johnstone who is attempting but failing to control her infinite number of children. Eddie is given to Mrs Lyons, a wealthy woman who is in fact Mrs Johnstone's boss, as Mrs Johnstone realises that she will not be able to afford to keep both children.
Why did ruth want to abort the baby, was it because of walter and the money? In the raisin and the sun ruth was a woman who was marry to walter. Mama was happy about the money so was Ruth was also happy. When Walter got home he asked if the check came in, mamá showed him the check he was surprised he asked mama if they can start a liquor store, mama told him no, then he started to yell. At the end mamá bought a house for Travis and they moved in to the house, Walter didn’t really like it because is was a white neighborhood.
A. The Walls family consists of five members; Rex Walls is the father and Rose Mary is the mother (47 years old). Lori, Jeannette, Brian, and Maureen are the children. Lori is the oldest, she is approximately 27 years old, Jeannette is 24 years old, Brian is 23 years old, and Maureen is 18 years old. As disclosed by Jeannette Walls in The Glass Castle, The Walls have a history of stressors within the five systems levels. More specifically, each member of the Walls has particular challenges they have overcome within the individual, immediate family, extended family, community, and larger society.
To Quilt it or To Knot it? In Susan Glaspell’s “A Jury of Her Peers” the female protagonists seek to find out the truth behind Mr. Wright’s murder in a chauvinistic atmosphere. Martha Hale, a close friend of Minnie Foster, initiates her own investigation alongside the Sheriff’s wife. Martha doubts that her Minnie Forester has husband.
Due to the loss of food and money the mother took up teaching despite her antipathy for the career. A dislike stirred by the fact teaching was meant to be a last resort if her art career failed. Rex and Mary decide to move once more in attempt to avoid their children being taken away due to recent events.
Consider ways in which Diane Samuels explores ideas of identity in this play in Act 1 Scene 2, and elsewhere in the act.
John could have obtained council from someone less personally involved in her case, but the only help he sought was for the condition of the house and the baby. He obtained a nanny to watch over the children while he was away at work each day: "It is fortunate Mary is so good with the baby." He also had his sister Jennie take care of the house. "She is a perfect and enthusiastic housekeeper." There is one instance, however, when he does talk of taking her to an expert for assistance, "John says if I don 't pick up faster he shall send me to Weir Mitchell in the fall." Nevertheless she took that as a threat since Dr. Mitchell was even more domineering than her husband and his brother. Perhaps, if she had been allowed to come and go and do as she pleased her depression might have lifted, "I think sometimes that if I were only well enough to write a little it would relieve the press of ideas and rest me." It seems to her that just being able to tell someone how she really feels would have eased her depression, but her husband would not hear of it because of the embarrassing consequences it could bring to the family name. Thus, John has made her a prisoner in their marriage where her opinions are pushed aside, and her self-worthiness questioned.
Gender roles heavily influenced the characters’ actions and behaviors. In typical American society, women are still expected to be married before having children, provide emotional comfort to the Father’s discipline, and are self-sacrificing for the sake of their children’s wellbeing. However, Mason’s mother, Olivia, does not meet society’s ideals of a perfect mother. Instead of giving emotional support, she disciplines the children and acts as the leader of Mason’s family, moving them from place to place as she tries to find stability. Yet, even though Olivia is a liberal feminist, she struggles to conform to society’s ideal of motherhood. By marrying multiple men, she tries to form a normal nuclear family and provide a male figure for her children. However, all of these relationships fail, and her children blame her for their turbulent family life. When Olivia tries to explain, reasoning “And now we have a family”, Mason rebuffs “We already had a family”. Moreover, Mason’s sister, Samantha also serves as a foil for
These lines also show a departure from the assumption that women are subservient to their men in that they lie to them. In line 411 one can see more evidence of the almost sisterly bond between women.
One critic, Leonard Mustazza, argues that Mrs. Hale recruits Mrs. Peters “as a fellow ‘juror’ in the case, moving the sheriff’s wife away from her sympathy for her husband’s position and towards identification with the accused woman” (494). Though this is true, Mrs. Peters also comes to her own understanding. What she sees in the kitchen led her to understand Minnie’s lonely plight as the wife of an abusive farmer. The first evidence Mrs. Peters reaches understanding on her own surfaces in the following passage: “The sheriff’s wife had looked from the stove to the sink to the pail of water which had been
promises his utmost respect and loyalty in an attempt to make her want to leave with him. He
Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale both make the choice to protect Mrs. Wright from the men’s investigation. They believe they are making the right decision in not telling the men because they believe that Mrs. Wright was in an abusive relationship and the killing of her canary finally caused her to snap. In Marina Angel’s analysis of “Trifles”, she says “The symbolism is again clear. Minnie Foster ‘was kind of like a bird herself’… But Mr. Wright had been rough with her” (Angel 805). The dead bird that Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale find is a symbol for Mrs. Wright herself,
After regaining his composure, Edward heads back home and spends significant time with Kim, where they finally express their feeling for one another. But just as things start to get interesting, Edward glances out the window and is shocked at the sight of harm coming towards Kevin (Peggs brother). Edward instinctively takes it upon himself to become Kevin’s savior and as Jim and some reckless friend lose control of the car they are in, Edward tackles Kevin to the grass, ultimately saving him. In attempts to assure that he is okay Edward accidently scratches Kevin’s face due to his scissorhands. When Jim sees this he accuses Edward of purposefully hurting Kevin, and takes action against him by viciously attacking him.
Later in her passage,
Even so, the domestic system the men have set up for their wives and their disregard for them after the rules and boundaries have been laid down prove to be the men's downfall. The evidence that Mrs. Wright killed her husband is woven into Mrs. Hale's and Mrs. Peters's conversations about Mrs. Wright's sawing and her pet bird. The knots in her quilt match those in the rope used to strangle Mr. Wright, and the bird, the last symbol of Mrs. Wright's vitality to be taken by her husband, is found dead. Unable to play the role of subservient wife anymore, Mrs. Wright is foreign to herself and therefore lives a lie. As Mrs. Hale proclaims, "It looks as if she didn't know what she was about!" (1177).