How precisely do we relate this statement to this
excellent short story? Firstly, I suppose the revelation of Patrick to his pregnant and
doting wife Mary could indicate human cruelty, but I think we need to take a more
nuanced view when we come to consider Mary's response in killing Patrick. The text makes
it completely clear that such an action was involuntary and was something that Mary had
no control over herself:
At that point, Mary Maloney simply walked up
behind him and without any pause she swung the big frozen leg of lamb high in the air
and brought it down as hard as she could on the back of his
head.
The automatic nature of
this action and the way that she comes out of shock after having done it indicates that
this was an unthinking response to the terrible situation she was facing. Clearly, this
could be used to argue that deep down in Mary's being, the same violence and cruelty
exists that other humans have, and the shock of finding out that Patrick was leaving her
unleashed these emotions. More importantly, in my opinion, is the way in which Mary
Maloney very calculatingly organises the disposal of the murder weapon and the removal
of the suspicions against her. The reference at the end of the story to Mary Maloney
"giggling" as the detectives eat the murder weapon whilst talking about where it is
definitely seems to suggest that there is a perverse, cruel and violent nature to all of
us.
No comments:
Post a Comment