Read this excerpt from "A Jury of Her Peers" by Susan Glaspell. Which line shows Mrs. Hale's attitude of pity and compassion for
other women? She [Mrs. Hale] dashed her hand across her eyes. Then, seeing the jar of fruit on the table she reached for it and choked out:
"If I was you I wouldn't tell her her fruit was gone! Tell her it ain't. Tell her it's all right—all of it. Here—take this in to prove it to her! She--she may never know whether it was broke or not."
She turned away.
Mrs. Peters reached out for the bottle of fruit as if she were glad to take it—as if touching a familiar thing, having something to do, could keep her from something else. She got up, looked about for something to wrap the fruit in, took a petticoat from the pile of clothes she had brought from the front room, and nervously started winding that round the bottle.
"My!" she began, in a high, false voice, "it's a good thing the men couldn't hear us! Getting all stirred up over a little thing like a—dead canary." She hurried over that. "As if that could have anything to do with—with—My, wouldn't they laugh?"
Footsteps were heard on the stairs.
"Maybe they would," muttered Mrs. Hale—"maybe they wouldn't."
Which one of these lines? |
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"Maybe they would," muttered Mrs. Hale—"maybe they wouldn't."
"If I was you I wouldn't tell her her fruit was gone! Tell her it ain't. Tell her it's all right—all of it.
Mrs. Peters reached out for the bottle of fruit as if she were glad to take it—as if touching a familiar thing, having something to do, could keep her from something else.
"My!" she began, in a high, false voice, "it's a good thing the men couldn't hear us! Getting all stirred up over a little thing like a—dead canary."
''If I was you I wouldn't tell her her fruit was gone! Tell her it ain't. Tell her it's all right -- all of it.''
Explanation:
This expression shows pity and compassion because its intent is to make another person feel better. Mrs. Hale clearly does not want the owner of the fruit to know that her fruit is gone, and so is willing to not tell her the truth in order for her to feel better.
The pity that Mrs. Hale feels is not direct nor clear, but she is certainly thinking of someone else when she makes the comment.
