Author Question: What do you infer from the wildly stitched block in Minnies quilt? Why doesMrs. Hale rip out the ... (Read 154 times)

newyorker26 · **on:** Jul 20, 2018

What do you infer from the wildly stitched block in Minnies quilt? Why doesMrs. Hale rip out the crazy stitches?

What will be an ideal response?

Question 2

What attitudes toward women do the Sheriff and the County Attorneyexpress? How do Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters react to these sentiments?

What will be an ideal response?

elyse44 · **Reply #1 on:** Jul 20, 2018

Answer to Question 1

Since her previous work had been neat and straight, the stitching on this block, the last one she had worked on, is suggestive of an extreme agitation of mind and emotionsthe kind of agitation that might be produced by a murderous rage. Mrs. Hale rips out the stitches to help Mrs. Wright by destroying this evidence of her state of mind in the hours leading up to her husbands death.

Answer to Question 2

Both men take a patronizing attitude toward women. Sheriff Peters is the one who mocks them for being concerned about the stitching in Mrs. Wrights quilt block; the resulting laughter at their expense is very embarrassing to them, and may be a factor in their decision to conceal what they have discovered. Mr. Henderson, the County Attorney, is, if anything, even more offensive. He is smugly dismissive of anything that doesnt fit his preconceived notionswitness his sarcastic observations about Mrs. Wrights supposed poor housekeeping skills, despite the explanations of the women. Even when he thinks he is being broadminded and tolerant, he sounds smarmy and condescending, as when he says, And yet, for all their worries, what would we do without the ladies?