Irregular Stitching In Minnie's '

First, looking around the kitchen, the women notice that Minnie had left a lot of things “half done.” There was a table with “one half… wiped clean, the other half messy,” and a bucket of sugar half-filled. Minnie must have kept getting interrupted from her work. Maybe it was her husband or maybe it was her own thinking. The women know that to leave something unfinished it must have been something very importimportantnt. The second piece of evidence the women find is the log cabin quilt that Minnie had been working on. All of the quilt squares are sewn “nice and even”, except for one. The square looks as if Minnie “didn’t know what she was about.” It seems as if Minnie was nervous while sewing it. The women find it weird that Minnie was so careless on that square, when she was so meticulous in sewing the others. The final, and possibly most important, piece of evidence is the dead bird that the women found in Minnie’s sewing basket. Mr. Hale, we assume, “wrung its neck,” and it was something that Minnie really cared about. Mrs. Peters remembers a time when, “ there was a boy (who) took a hatchet,” to her kitten. She knows what it feels like to want to hurt someone who hurt something you care about. In the end, the women decide to hide the evidence from the men. Susan Glaspell’s use of logos is

Firstly, the crazily sewn quilt patch suggests that Mrs. Wright was preoccupied with someone or something else. The patch that

Another major symbol, which the educated lawmen considered a "trifle", is the quilt which Mrs.Hale and Mrs.Peters stumble across. Minnie had taken the scraps and put them into a nice neat quilt, but one square was haphazardly sewn. This befuddles the women for "It looks like she didn't know

“Martha’s midwifery practice accelerated…as her daughters began to weave”(80). This was because she no longer had to take care of all of their needs and she had a “secure supply of household help”(80). And not only was it beneficial for her, but also for the girls who now had “skills to sustain their future families as well as ways to contribute to their own support in the present”(81) and weaving was perfect for their family as it was home-accomplished job, produced items for their future homes, and entered them into the world of exchange in Hallowell’s female community.

Within the story Everyday Use the mother and Maggie live a simple and somewhat outdated life while Dee lives a very different and more modern life compared to her sister and mother. Maggie and the mother see the quilt as something that remind them of a family member.This quilt not only reminds them of a family member but shows hard timely work that was spent to make this one simple memo. It also serves as a type of time capsule to a time of a simpler and less modern culture. While Dee, on the other hand, sees the quilt as a type of decoration. The reason as to why she sees it as a decoration is because she adopted a new culture. Within her new culture anything that seems timely or vintage has a value, and because

The men 's inability to see the facts of the situation is emphasized by Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peter’s ability to deduce the discouraging course of Minnie 's life over the previous 20 years. In addition, although the male characters see no relevant clues in the kitchen, the women, once alone, notice evidence in the mere state of the kitchen: All is amiss--the lid is off the sugar canister and a half-full bag is sitting next to it; there is a dish towel in the middle of the half-wiped kitchen table; and the squares for the quilt she is piecing consist of fine, even sewing -except for one block, in which the sewing is crazy. “What made this woman, they wonder, leave things half-done? What made her nervous enough to make her sewing "crazy"? What so distracted this woman, who even in jail worried about her preserves and wanted an apron?” (Bendel-Simso) Only women, and only women of similar social and geographical backgrounds, can recognize these clues. Foreshadowing of this evidence is given in the opening paragraph of the story, in which Mrs. Hale 's eye makes a scandalized sweep of her kitchen as she is forced to abandon her bread-making half-done when she is unexpectedly called to the crime scene.

The playwright is nearly flawless in using symbolism to highlight the plight of Minnie and women of the era. Mr. Hale declares dismissively declares, “Well, women are used to worrying over trifles” (1387). The immediate response was “[The women move a little closer together]” (1387). As they enter the home, the women away from the men, huddled near the stove. The men easily converse as if they have previously worked together and know one another. On the

Minnie tells Lewis Hale, even though she was in the bed with John, that she knows nothing about the murder because she sleeps soundly. Lewis doesn’t hear anything unusual in the words. The men are looking for evidence, but the women see, feel and hear in the silence. Mrs. Peters keeps talking about the law, and Mrs. Hale talks about the pieces and little bits of the life of Minnie. Mrs. Hale tries to comfort her, but the conversation goes deeper than either expects. Mrs. Hale tells Mrs. Peters, “I don’t know as there’s anything so strange, our takin’ up our time with little things while we’re waiting for them to get the evidence” (1391). The women find evidence in the little things they find in the kitchen, and see the evidence that the men overlook. Lewis noticed that Minnie kept arranging her apron, while talking about the rope around John’s neck; yet he sees nothing. He sees the busy hands of Minnie as odd, but that is all. The women uncover key moments of the past life of Minnie. The women see and feel the emotions of Minnie in many clues around the

While the men were off looking for evidence besides what they considered trifles, the women explored what was the life of Minnie, they saw her anxiety in the sewing and knew how upset she would be about her preserves. Besides this, they understood how lonely it would be to be all alone with no one besides John Wright, who most knew as a cold man. Even if they didn’t see the abuse in the Wright’s relationship, they still saw that he was insensitive and didn’t care about her feelings. The two women begin to “participate in this vision of solidarity,” (Holstein) after they understand why Minnie murdered her husband, they decide to cover it up. When talking about the items Minnie requested, the two women remark how she wanted items that wouldn’t be very helpful in a jail cell, however, these items are to provide a sense of stability for Minnie, Mr. Hale remarked that she looked like “she didn't know what she was going to do next” (Glaspell, 1006). Victims of abuse commonly gain a dependence towards their abuser, as they are the largest controlling factor in their life. Her wanting of an apron or her sewing projects is just something for her to hold onto the

The quilt is one major clue as to how Minnie killed her husband. The women were trying to figure out if she was going to sew or not the quilt. Well, Mr. Wright was strangled in a strange manner, just how the knot was messed up in red string. The men laughed it off butt Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters knew what had happened.

Wright was working on a quilt. They noticed how beautiful it was and how well the stitching was up until one point. The last piece that has been attached to the quilt is poorly stitched. Mrs. Hale points out the bad stitching and says to Mrs. Peters, “Why, it looks as if she didn’t know what she was about,” she even speaks of how she believes Mrs. Wright did the piece while nervous about something (1085). Mrs. Peters even tries to go as far as trying to fix the stitching so that no one else notices and her excuse is “bad sewing always made me fidgety” (1085). The two of them were beginning to suspect Mrs. Wright was the killer of her husband, and it didn’t help that the women were finding different clues standing out to them that claimed

What does quilts and heritage have in common? Well obvious one is that quilts are often a piece of heritage from an elder relative that has often passed on; however, a quilt especial in Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use” can be represent what we do with our heritage. The plot, simply put, is the coming home of Dee. With this home coming is the rehashing of past events and reveals the contrasting attitudes and paths Dee and her sister Maggie all through the eyes of Mama. Taking the style, characters of Walker, this story and the theme more than likely is a commentary on African-American culture particular with heritage. The commentary mainly comes from mama as she compared not only Maggie to Dee but also Dee against herself.

The men's failure to see the realities of the circumstance is accentuated by Mrs. Solidness and Mrs. Subside's capacity to conclude the demoralizing course of Minnie's life over the past 20 years. Furthermore, despite the fact that the male characters see no applicable signs in the kitchen, the ladies, once alone, see prove in the negligible condition of the kitchen: All is awry - the top is off the sugar canister and a half-full sack is sitting by it; there is a drying towel amidst the half-wiped kitchen table; and the squares for the stitch she is piecing comprise of fine, notwithstanding sewing - with the exception of one piece, in which the sewing is insane. "What made this lady, they ponder, leave things half-done? What made her sufficiently anxious to make her sewing "insane"? What so occupied this lady, who even in prison stressed over her jam and needed a cover?" (Bendel-Simso) Only ladies, and just ladies of comparable social and land foundations, can perceive these pieces of information. Hinting of this confirmation is given in the opening passage of the story, in which Mrs. Robust's eye makes a scandalized scope of her kitchen as she is compelled to forsake her bread-production half-done when she is out of the blue called to the

The conflict between Mrs. Hales and Mrs. Peters is to whether or not to report to the authorities what they have found in Minnie’s room; which can be used as evidence that can land Minnie on jail for killing her husband. The fact that Mrs. Peters was the sheriff's wife made things more complicated; she knew that she shouldn’t hide things from her husband, because as the county attorney said, she was part f the law, “For that matter a sheriff’s wife is married to the law.” (Glaspell 735) Mrs. Hale on the other hand, shows her sympathy openly, she was a neighbor and a former friend of Minnie, and she felt regretful for not visiting Minnie and getting to know if she needed help, she knew that life was complicated for women even if it was not

Throughout the story, Minnie Wright would always work on this quilt with no particular pattern, but her husband would consider it as a trifle, just something that concerned women. After being arrested for the questioning of her husband’s death, her two friends took the quilt to her to finish, she could only do it by two ways- quilting or knotting it. The male officers asked the women how she would finish it and both women confidently answered “knot it.” As the male officers only viewed the quilt as being a trifle as well, they were blind by the evidence that was right before their eyes, the knot represented that way she had certainly killed her husband, by knotting the rope around his neck.