1994 AP Question
Although Mrs. Wright does not appear in the play, she does have a great influence throughout the play. The very fact that the case could have never occurred without her proves that. Furthermore, there is a sense of protection among the women. Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale cannot stand the fact that the men in the novel are “snooping around, and criticizing” when she is not even around (pg. 4). Another argument can also be made about how Mrs. Wright herself represents women in a male dominated society. According to an article, Well into the 20th century women were still being portrayed as both the guardians of morality, keeping male misbehaviour in check, and the ‘weaker sex’, unable to cope with the hardships and dangers of public …show more content…
The canary represents Minnie Foster: that sweet, fluttery girl who was transformed into the lonely, depressed Mrs. Wright by years of her husband's neglect and emotional abuse.
Cage = Sucky Marriage and Escape
All right, let's talk about this cage. If Minnie Foster is the canary, then we can definitely see how the cage could represent the stifling marriage that turned her into depressed Mrs. Wright. We know that the cranky John Wright demanded silence in his house. Add that to the geographic isolation that the remote house created, and Minnie Foster was definitely in a cage.
However, when we meet the cage, the door has been violently torn off of it. We learn that John Wright tore the door off so that he could wring the bird's neck. Ironically, though, this symbolic murder of Minnie Foster is what leads to murder of John Wright. For Minnie, it's the last straw, and it's the thing that makes her strangle her husband in much the same way that he killed the bird.
So even though the cage's broken door is a sign of Mr. Wright's penchant for bird-murder, it might also symbolize the violent way in which Mrs. Wright finally escaped her cage of a marriage. In a way, she not only murders John, the bird-like Minnie Foster also murders Mrs.
Although Mrs. Wright does not appear in the play, she does have a great influence throughout the play. The very fact that the case could have never occurred without her proves that. Furthermore, there is a sense of protection among the women. Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale cannot stand the fact that the men in the novel are “snooping around, and criticizing” when she is not even around (pg. 4). Another argument can also be made about how Mrs. Wright herself represents women in a male dominated society. According to an article, Well into the 20th century women were still being portrayed as both the guardians of morality, keeping male misbehaviour in check, and the ‘weaker sex’, unable to cope with the hardships and dangers of public …show more content…
The canary represents Minnie Foster: that sweet, fluttery girl who was transformed into the lonely, depressed Mrs. Wright by years of her husband's neglect and emotional abuse.
Cage = Sucky Marriage and Escape
All right, let's talk about this cage. If Minnie Foster is the canary, then we can definitely see how the cage could represent the stifling marriage that turned her into depressed Mrs. Wright. We know that the cranky John Wright demanded silence in his house. Add that to the geographic isolation that the remote house created, and Minnie Foster was definitely in a cage.
However, when we meet the cage, the door has been violently torn off of it. We learn that John Wright tore the door off so that he could wring the bird's neck. Ironically, though, this symbolic murder of Minnie Foster is what leads to murder of John Wright. For Minnie, it's the last straw, and it's the thing that makes her strangle her husband in much the same way that he killed the bird.
So even though the cage's broken door is a sign of Mr. Wright's penchant for bird-murder, it might also symbolize the violent way in which Mrs. Wright finally escaped her cage of a marriage. In a way, she not only murders John, the bird-like Minnie Foster also murders Mrs.