Minerva Jones Poem

The famous poet Edgar Lee Masters, uses a collection of short poems in her work "Spoon River Anthology". The Anthology collectively narrates the epitaphs of the residents of Spoon River, a fictional small town named after the real Spoon River that ran near the author's home town.

In one of her numerous short poems called "Minerva Jones", I learned that Minerva is a rape victim. With her heavy body, cock-eye, and rolling walk, it drew plenty of attention of the people. But it drew too much attention that a man by the name of "Butch" Weldy, took advantage and violated her. She is left with Dr. Meyers, whom helped her with her situation. This shows that the reader believed small town America is a shady and dangerous place. Place where people

will harm you if they find you interesting or attractive.

In an epitaph called ""Butch" Weldy", I learned that Butch is a hardworking individual, but he was careless since he almost died in an incident that could have been avoided. After his accident, he stood for trial with The Circuit Judge. The judge did not accuse anyone for the "incident" so Old Rhode's son will not have to pay him, Butch knows it was because of the dangerous workplace and Rhode's son should be punished. But he did not get justice, this shows that the author believes small town America does not have a just ruling.

In an epitaph called "Roy Butler", the main character is a gentleman who is wrongly accused of rape. He had an argument with a man named "Richard Brandle", and I think this bothered him. Then he came to the idea to come to Brandle's house to settle the fued. But as he comes in the door he is greeted with Mr. Brandle's wife, she acted like she was being violated by Roy Butler. Then after he stood trial for the accusation of rape, although Roy was a kind gentleman, he is punished for the accusation. He learned that their government is unfair and unjust.

In the epitaph called "John M. Church", tells us that Mr. Church was a very successful lawyer with his court cases. He was very clever and smart that he kind of controlled the outcome of the case. Because he says " I pulled the strings of the judge and jury" this tells us that he handled the court to his favor. Then he says "But the rats devoured my heart
And a snake made a nest in my skull!" this infers that after his success against his enemies in court, he is a miserable man because he felt guilty for "pulling the strings" of the entire court, which is unjust'

In the epitaph called "Doctor Meyers", I learned that Dr.

Meyers is a great and kind hearted man. He helped all the weak, the halt, the improviden, and those who could not pay for his service. Then a woman by the name of "Minerva" came to him, crying. He tried to help her but she died, then after, people in the town were disappointed and angered with Dr. Meyers. This tells me that the society will not look for and credit a person's accomplishements, but instead flock the person's failure.

In the epitaph called "Mrs.Meyers", the speaker feels pity for Dr. Meyers, she felt so because he was only trying to help Minerva, yet people blamed him for her sudden death. The speaker is Dr. Meyers' wife. She says, "Poor soul so sunk in sin he could not see. That even trying to help her, as he called it, he had broken the law human and divine." I can infer that she was very compassionate with her husband. The society was very mean to him, they villainously told lies about him on the town's newspaper, it really devastated

him.

In the last epitaph of the anthology called ""Indignation" Jones", I learned that the man is Minerva's father and that he is well educated. He is a wise and respectable man but his looks betrays his true qualities. He speaks about his daughter, Minerva, how he mourned for her death and hated the people who did wrong to her. With this short poem, I can infer that the society back then will judge you how you look, just like a book, they will only see you from the outside, and if they do not like it, they will not bother to see you in the inside.