Mrs Marroner Sparknotes

Set in Boston in the late 1930’s Mrs. Marroner, a woman of high class, is lying on her bed crying. She has just found out that her husband has cheated on her with the maid they took in. Both Mr and Mrs Marroner had loved the young servant from Sweden so it was a great betrayal when Mrs Maaroner found out what her husband had done. Though at first she blamed Gerta, the young maid, she soon ‘turned’ her perspective and saw Gerta as the victim. Her husband, arrived home from an overseas trip finds the house that they had lived together in empty. Wanting to know what happened to his wife he hired private investigators to search for her. When he finds her she has gone back to her job at the university and is taking care of Gerta and the baby she

carried. The story ends with Mrs. Marroner asking her former husband, ‘What do you have to say to us?’

I was pleased with the way the woman stood up for themselves and how they treated the concept of infidelity in this text.

When Mrs. Marroner first finds out that she has been cheated on she blames the women, Gerta, for this fact. This is a common thing in our society as you see in movies and books, the women who have been cheated on often blame the ‘other women’ because they can’t possibly believe that their husband or boyfriend that they love could betray them in that way. This concept of women blaming women in our society is quite harmful as it gives the men who cheat all the power in the situation and gives them a ‘free pass’ to do it again as they didn’t get called out on their mistakes. But this situation changes quite rapidly in the short story. Instead of blaming Gerta, Mrs Marroner quickly changes her mindset and realises that Gerta is the victim in her situation. Because Greta is from Sweden and doesn’t understand the consequences of Mr Marroner actions but, “He knew. He understood. He could fully foresee and measure the consequences of this act.” I think that this is one of the strongest ideas in the text as Mrs. Marroner changes her mindset and realised that the man who did this is to blame. We can all

learn from this change as i think it would help us as a society to become more equal if we raise our voices and act, like Mrs Marroner did, by moving out and cutting all ties to her husband. If we do not we are just telling the cheaters that it is okay to betray someone's trust in you and not punishing them for their actions.

Both Gerta and Mrs Marroner change their mindset and realise that what Mr Marroner did to them was unforgivable. They realise that they are stronger when they help to lift each other up and teach each other. They become a team and raise the baby together. When Mr Marroner tries to reach out to them at the end of the story Mrs Marroner says, “What do you have to say to us?” The author of the text uses a plural at the end of the story to say that they have banded together and nothing he can say or do anymore will harm them. The plural can also mean all women. What can the man who have lied and cheated on us possibly say to reconcile the fact? We are seeing more and more in Tv shows and movies that women are changing their mindsets and standing up for each other. In the 19th century men in society had all the power and the women were forced to turn on each other in order to survive. The lower class were forced to do everything the upper class wanted and, much like Gerta, were either pressured or forced to have sexual relations with men. Some men gave promises of moving up the social ladder or making a better life for the

woman and the child she would eventually bear. Nowadays women are taking back the power and demanding respect. Women in the 19th century did not have the power to divorce their husbands and could not stand up for themselves. Mrs Marroner was ahead of her time and because of her job in the university and that meant that she could leave her husband as she had another income that she could fall back on. Today to be able to survive in this economy middle class spouse have to have two jobs. This makes it easier for women to leave a toxic relationship like the Marroner’s and forge a path on their own. Mr Marroner, though a product of his time, still made bad decisions and decided to betray the trust both Gerta and Mrs Marroner had put in him and for this reason, Mrs Marroner standing up for herself and leaving her husband, was a strong and smart idea.

As a female I was sympathetic to the plight of Mrs Marroner and how the men took advantage of her. Growing up in the middle class I strive to become more successful in everything I do and to see a strong, well educated women in the 19th century choosing her career and other women over her cheating husband is a much needed break from the countless books we have with women who lose all their character traits after they find a man. Mrs Marroner is a good influence for young women everywhere as she shows women that even in a bad situation you can still strive to overcome and progress in your life and society. Though I was concerned about Mrs and Mr Marroner’s treatment of Gerta. Throughout the entire short story Gerta has three lines. These are all answering a direct question or pleading such as when she says, “No ma’am no, please don’t make me.” Gerta is from the lower class and comes from a country where the primary language isn’t english. Their customs and social ideas are different and yet Mr and Mrs Marroner both take advantage of her. Admittedly Mrs Marroner tries to do the right thing for Gerta by taking her away and not throwing her out of her household, but she still doesn’t give Gerta a choice in the matter. At the end of the story she doesn’t have a final scathing word to say to the man who would have ruined her life. Instead Mrs Marroner says the collective us. She is still assuming what Gerta would say and taking advantage of her “quiet nature.” Mr Marroner on the other hand blatantly takes advantage of her by sleeping with her and then only giving her $50 American dollars to help towards the child. He even says in his letter, “if you have to go make sure that you leave an address” which makes it sound like he wants her to leave so he doesn’t have to deal the repercussions of her actions. At the end of the story he even mentions that he had forgotten all about Gerta. This mindset has remnants in our society today as we see men assaulting women and never having to face consequences, in fact in some circles we almost seem to reward it such as Donald Trump, who hasn’t denied the nineteen ongoing sexual harassment claims against him and the video evidence that he can’t dispute. Yet this man who has violated laws and disrespected women is still the president of the United States. What has changed though is the women speaking out about their experiences and helping to change our world for the better with things such as the METOO and TimesUp protests. I think social media is helping this as the middle and lower classes have platforms to speak up on such as Twitter where they can show others that the men and women in power have done things wrong and what we can do about it. Like Mrs Marroner, women in society often try to help others but sometimes to not take into account their cultures or thoughts and they efforts often end up being just as harmful as the men’s actions against them are.