Ms Stillon: A Short Story

“When you got to the table you couldn 't go right to eating, but you had to wait for the widow to tuck down her head and grumble a little over the victuals, though there warn 't really anything the matter with them, -- that is, nothing only everything was cooked by itself. In a barrel of odds and ends it is different; things get mixed up, and the juice kind of swaps around, and the things go better.” (Twain, 1)

As the women walk through the house, they begin to get a feel for what Mrs. Wright’s life is like. They notice things like the limited kitchen space, the broken stove, and the broken jars of fruit and begin to realize the day-to-day struggles that Mrs. Wright endured. The entire house has a solemn, depressing atmosphere. Mrs. Hale regretfully comments that, for this reason and the fact that Mr. Wright is a difficult man to be around, she never came to visit her old friend, Mrs. Wright.

5). In contrast, Hamilton displays a more mild-mannered temperament, deliberately bringing up his role in “preventing a very severe and systematic attack” on Jefferson (Hamilton, para. 5) to portray himself in a better light to Washington.

The Hamilton Affair, a historical fiction novel written by Elizabeth Cobbs, centers around the love story of Alexander Hamilton and Elizabeth Schuyler in addition to incorporating their upbringings and accomplishments up until the time of their deaths. The story itself is divided into two parts each entitled by two words that appropriately summarize their theme: Part 1-Love and Revolution and Part 2-Betrayal in Redemption. There is an immediate shift in mood between these two parts in order to reflect the changing nature of the times. A constant excitement characterizes Part 1, as Alexander and his fellow colonists struggle for independence during the American Revolution and sparks fly between him and Eliza upon their initial flirtation and eventual marriage. This is particularly reflected in Cobbs’ vivid imagery of the setting where Eliza and Alexander first meet: “The fire’s glow on the red-flocked wallpaper gave a rosy hue to the polished silver and porcelain” (Cobbs 129). However, in Part 2, the so-called “honeymoon phase” of the Hamilton’s marriage is over, and the harsh realities of real life settle in, as Hamilton’s political and well as familial life is consistently tested, which ultimately leads to his affair with Maria Reynolds and the subsequent heartbreak Eliza experiences. Eliza’s inner dialogue establishes a nostalgic tone, as she ponders happier times where “everything seemed rosy,” and she and Alexander “danced until the wee hours” (210). Given the effects

She missed her husband as she brought spring to the earth. The heavy taste of pomegranates on her tongue reminded her of the promise that her husband had

In various unrevealed capacities he had come in contact with such people, but always with indiscernible barbed between. He found her excitingly desirable. He went to her house, at first with other officers from Camp Taylor, then alone. It amazed him––he had never been in such a beautiful house before. But what gave it an air of breathless intensity was that Daisy lived there––it was as casual a thing to her as his tent out at camp was to him…”

Response 1 “The widow Douglas, she took me for her son, and allowed she would civilize me; but it was rough living in the house all the time, considering how dismal regular and decent the widow was in all her ways: and so when I couldn’t stand it no longer, I lit out. I got into my old rags and my sugar-hogshead again, and was free and satisfied” “Her sister, Miss Watson, a tolerable slim old maid, with goggles on, had just come to live with her, and took a set at me now with a spelling-book. She worked me middling hard for about an hour, and then the widow made her ease up. I couldn’t stood it much longer. Then for an hour it was deadly dull, and I was fidgety.

She speaks of a time when she simply feels like making quiches many times in one week and so her husband simply suggests something that would have been better then quiche and so an inner battle begins to take place in her mind. For her cooking is what she takes the most pride in and so what her first instinct is is to punish her husband by giving him the silent treatment. However she remembers what they had

The man struggled for a few moments before his grip on his own neck tightened with Rose’s contempt. His dying gasps were music to Rose’s ears. A few tears slid out of his eyes before they went blank and his knees buckled out underneath him. How unceremonious.What a rube.

The Husband loves his wife and the narrator writes through the tenderness of the Husband's eye. When Ann slices her finger re-washing the silverware, all animosity is lost as he scrambles up stairs to get her a Band-Aid as a peace offering to cease the argument. He finishes the cleaning in the kitchen and goes as far as to mop the floor while he waits for the frustration and anger to subside in his Wife.

Finally, the reader is introduced to the character around whom the story is centered, the accursed murderess, Mrs. Wright. She is depicted to be a person of great life and vitality in her younger years, yet her life as Mrs. Wright is portrayed as one of grim sameness, maintaining a humorless daily grind, devoid of life as one regards it in a normal social sense. Although it is clear to the reader that Mrs. Wright is indeed the culprit, she is portrayed sympathetically because of that very lack of normalcy in her daily routine. Where she was once a girl of fun and laughter, it is clear that over the years she has been forced into a reclusive shell by a marriage to a man who has been singularly oppressive. It is equally clear that she finally was brought to her personal breaking point, dealing with her situation in a manner that was at once final and yet inconclusive, depending on the outcome of the legal investigation. It is notable that regardless of the outcome, Mrs. Wright had finally realized a state of peace within herself, a state which had been denied her for the duration of her relationship with the deceased.

Widow Wycherly, in her prime, was a beautiful woman who became a recluse because of scandalous stories that were spread about her. When they were given the chance to change their ways, they couldn’t do it. “But they were young: their burning passions proved them so. Inflamed to madness by the coquetry of the girl-widow … the three rivals began to interchange threatening glances. … They grappled fiercely at one another's throats.

A loud cracking sound resonated through the cellar beneath the Salvati household as Adelina swung and then clutched her iron spade to her chest, breathing heavily. Riccardo Margheri’s body crumpled to the ground at her feet, his head leaking red in her least favorite odor. She turned to her Beloved, who had been so squirmy when she took him into her household that she’d had to tie him to a chair. He just stared at her now with a cold, analytical expression. What was her Beloved thinking about?

McCannon spent the next half hour being as evasive, as difficult, and as elusive as possible but, at the end of it all, he was left feeling that this slip of a girl had gotten the better of him. They parted cordially enough, but he cursed his way back to the Mayor's Office across town, sweating at the way she had rung intellectual rings around him. He'd fudged enough of the facts that she'd have difficulty pinning anything on the Mayor at least, although really there wasn't anything to accuse him of other than neglect, but still.... He sighed, puffing out his cheeks. She basically had a rough location, and a rough time of night, from the police reports he had inadvertently brought up.

My eyes drifted around the room before settling on the tea, now lukewarm in my hands. Maudie’s nonchalant face came to mind, and her firm, strong voice commanding Jean Louise and I back into the kitchen played in my head. The sudden news of Tom’s death had upset her, but she revealed nothing as such. She said to Jean Louise to stop her shaking and instructed me to control myself. Maudie maintained her composure, and assisted in upholding mine. I wondered how she had done it, but nevertheless I was grateful.