What Is The Relationship Between Mrs. Hale And Walker's Cry: Summary

After many, many years of being a very depressed housewife to what seemed like a very hardworking, selfish man, she was finally free. “She was rocking back and forth. She had her apron in her hand and was kind of-pleating it. (Glaspell)” I felt that Mrs. Wright felt like she had did something for herself, even though it is illegal to kill someone, it was portrayed that her husband always spoke for her. When the county attorney and sheriff were questioning her, she never stated that she was guilty of it or not. She just mentioned that someone pulled Mr. Wright out of bed and hung him with a noose. Mrs. Wright was taken to jail, in which she feels more at ease from. Upon sitting in jail, the sheriff’s wife and Mrs. Hale find a dead bird hidden in Mrs. Wright’s sewing kit. They come to find out that Mr. Wright had killed the dead bird because of the singing, which was a very important role in Mrs. Wright’s life. Mrs. Hide during the court hearing hid the bird and quilt in her pocket. The court confirmed that the case was clear, with only one minor detail missing which could have been the bird, but Mrs. Hide did not tell about the

Mrs. Wright lived her entire marriage alone, confined to a tiny house in the outskirts of town, with her only true companion a bird who sung to her, she loved that bird like it was her child. Mrs. Wright blamed her husband for her loneliness because he wouldn’t allow her to sing in church, have friends over, or have a telephone to even call people occasionally. Mr. Wright made her feel as though she was in solitary confinement in a prison this was not a home. At least she had her canary to keep her company, well until he took that away from her too.

Hale and Mrs. Peters find a dead canary and a broken bird cage, it becomes obvious that Mr. Wright was an aggressive and controlling husband. Mrs. Hale states, “No, Wright wouldn’t like the bird- a thing that sang. She used to sing. He killed that, too” (1012). The canary represents Minnie Foster. Before she married Mr. Wright, she was a joyful girl who sang in the church choir. After her and Mr. Wright get married, she is forced to stop singing and is stripped of her happiness. The broken cage represents Mr. and Mrs. Wright’s controlling marriage. The bird cage is violently broken to represent how Mrs. Wright violently escaped her marriage. The women’s discoveries cause Mrs. Peters to sympathize with Mrs. Wright. Ultimately, Mrs. Peters decides to stand up for what she believes.

The third piece of evidence, the mutilated canary, shows the motive for Mrs. Wright to kill her husband. In the story the women find a beautiful box and in the box wrapped in silk was the dead bird which then by closer examination they found had its neck snapped. Based on the box and the silk we can infer that Mrs. Wright loved her bird and would not of broke its neck so that leaves Mr. Wright to do so. Silk is an expensive fabric and usually you put you most prized possessions in it, and the beautiful box also shows that Mrs. Wright loved her canary.

As the ladies examine the house, while the men are other places, picking clothes and an apron up for Mrs. Wright, Mrs. Hale gains sympathy for her until finally she starts to take action. When they find the block of quilting that has stitching askew, she starts to fix it, perhaps to cover for Mrs. Wright?s distraught state of mind. While Mrs. Hale is finding sympathy for Mrs. Wright, Mrs. Peters offers a counterpoint that tries to justifies the men?s viewpoints and actions. Her comments to Mrs. Hale?s resentful musings on Mrs. Wright?s unhappy life and on the actions of men in regards to women in general all seem to be rote answers programmed into her by society and a desire not to cause any trouble. This all changes as soon as Mrs. Peters finds the bird.

Mrs. Wright is being accused of murdering her husband, and all the evidence points to her, but if you look

Wright explains that someone must have come in, in the middle of the and slipped a rope around her husband’s neck while she was asleep next to him, she states, “I sleep sound.” Mrs. Wright didn’t seem concerned never moving from her rocker, she kept rocking and pleating the apron. The men searched the kitchen which appeared unkept and found only kitchen items, nothing out of the ordinary. Her neighbor Mrs. Hale came in and said that she hadn’t been in the house in years, she states “It hasn’t been a cheerful place” (561). Mrs. Wright is now being accused of murdering her husband and her only concern was her preserves, the county attorney sates, “Held for murder and worryin’ about her preserves” (561). The ladies that was in the Wright house was discussing how Mrs. Wright used to be, dressed up in pretty clothes, was lively and confident, she lost that over the years and now “She didn’t even belong to the Ladies Aid” (562). They guessed she couldn’t do her part and felt shabby, so she kept to herself. The ladies thought she killed her husband and practically convicted her right there in her kitchen. The women are constantly worrying over Trifles, or something that is totally unimportant. After Mrs. Wright is arrested for the murder of her husband the two ladies take Mrs. Wright quilt to the jail to keep her

Looking through Mrs.Wrights sewing things they find the bird, that once sang beautiful songs, hidden in the sewing box, his neck broken. This bird was a great representation of Mrs. Wrights spirit. Trapped behind steel bars, yet singing inside her heart anyways. It is indicated that Mrs. Wright and her husband had an altercation in so he killed the bird in a fit of rage, thus finishing killing what little spirit Mrs. Wright had left over.

In some instances, the women conform to and depart from the assumptions made by the men. Mrs. Hale has found an important piece of evidence, a dead bird. The ladies decide not to allow the men to know of the true reason for the bird's death. As concerns the loyalty of one woman to another, evidence is found in line 366 that seems to allude to such a bond. Line 366 begins:

And Mrs. Wright. Although the setting is in their home, they are not present because Mrs. Wright is in jail for being accused of murdering her husband. He was strangled in the middle of the night with a rope and was found by a friend the next day. The story starts with a handful of characters, including Mrs. Hale, Mrs. Peters, along with a few others, being called to this house for an investigation along with their husbands. The first thing that they notice is the kitchen being a mess.

Mrs. Hale starts looking for the rest of her sewing supplies, and discovers the dead bird wrapped up in a piece of cloth with its neck wrung, just like how Mr. Wright died. They soon realize what Mrs. Wright did to her husband, and that Mr. Wright killed her bird. The men investigating the murder do not realize there ever was a bird, so Mrs. Hale took it and hid it from Mrs. Wright’s things before it could be found as a motive. Mrs. Hale says, “I might have known she needed help!” Mrs. Hale regrets not being there more often for Mrs. Wright and possibly could’ve prevented such a disaster.

The reasons behind Mr. Wright’s demise are obscure, till clues unveil a home environment in which may be considerably enough for such action. The audience is introduced to Mrs. Wright’s situation according to the recollection of her neighboring farmer Lewis Hale, his wife Mrs. Hale, the sheriff and his wife Mrs. Peters as Mrs. Wright has already been taken into custody in suspicion this murder. Mrs. Hale tell the county attorney that the home “never seemed like a cheerful place” as well as telling Mrs. Peters that “he was a hard man”. Implying that this may very well have been a broken home, this followed by another exchange the will point in the speculated domestic abuse. Mrs. Peters discovers a bird-cage that had been placed in a cupboard, only to find Mrs. Wright’s bird to which the cage had belonged.

The men were still looking for evidence, but women are replaying the scene of murder in there minds. They conclude that Mrs. Wright was sewing in kitchen, when Mr. Wright came into the kitchen and saw the bird. This explains why Mrs. Wright was sewing nervously. I assumed that Mr. Wright didn’t like birds, because they are very noisy referring to conversation with Mr. Hale about the joining party phone line. Mr. Wright must have seen the birdcage with the bird. He must have broken the birdcage and broke the bird’s neck. This was enough of a motive need for Mrs. Wright to kill her husband. The

    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).

When Mrs. Hale finds a dead bird in Mrs. Wright's sewing box, she soon recognizes the obvious reason why John Wright was murdered. The audience sees character motivation in Mrs. Wright. Mr. Wright was a man who used silence and coldness to control and mold his wife into someone he thought she ought to be. He killed the singing bird, which was a symbol for Mrs. Wright as Minnie Foster. In an indirect way, he killed her joy of singing, her spirit, keeping her in her own "cage" which she can not escape from. Unless she "got rid of" what (or who) was holding her prisoner.