The Innocent Spoon River Anthology, By Edgar Lee Masters

The “Innocent” Spoon River Anthology.

“Tables turn, bridges burn, you live and learn.” is exactly what Drake, a Canadian rapper, sang in his song Pound Cake. Well looking at every mistake or evil idea a person decides to commit, karma always has a way of coming back, and karma never strikes kindly. The karma within the book “Spoon River Anthology,” written by Edgar Lee Masters, the characters of Dora Williams’ lost love, Butch’s arrogance, and Dr. Meyers’ karma didn’t all strike as they expected. Few characters live and learn from the mistakes committed before the end of life in what may seem like the innocent, small town of Spoon River.

Dora Williams, wanting love, decides to plead guilty to first-degree murder. As of being alive with all

Butch thought he couldn’t get away by fleeing to religion, and finding a job to use as a mind cleanser to help clear his name in Minerva’s situation and her death. Butch thought, “the tank in the yard with gasoline that fed the blow fire in the sheds to heat the soldering irons,”(Masters 4-6) was a great way to show he’s adding fuel to the fire. The fire being the impregnation of Minerva and also being the way his arrogance took over and him coying the poor, young girl's heart. With Butch doing that to Minerva, he flees to find peace within religion, but also an accident. The accident that caused him to fall, “and I came down with both legs broken,” (Masters 12). He came down just like how Minerva came down with the loss of love, and also the loss of her life. His accident symbolizes many different things that relate to Minerva’s death and the way she died. As Butch has been placed on the witness stand in front of the judge for his trial, Butch decides to lie that he didn’t see anything, saying he was blind like Jack the Fiddler. My eyes burnt crisp as a couple of eggs,” (Masters 13). This symbolizes that he didn’t know anything about the person that was against him during the trial. Butch has actually been stolen from a blind homeless man named “Jack the Fiddler”. Later, he does become blind due to the accident as he

Meyers. Yes, the doctor who pleaded he was good hearted and kind, but the man who never regretted any of the many mistakes committed through life. Dr. Meyers’s life was always good hearted; he wasn’t as good as Dr. Hill, but still always said, “I was good hearted Dr. Meyers, I was healthy, happy, in comfortable fortune, blessed with a congenial mate, my children raised and all wedded,” (Masters 5 - 8). As Dr. Meyers wants to remain or say that he was and has been a really good man, he decides to mention that he has a whole family, the job he does, but also the mistakes he’s committed and that he does rightfully know what he does. “No other man, unless it was Doc Hill, did more for the people than I,” (Masters 1 - 2). He clearly knows that he would even put his career at risk to help a patient for his work, just for the people to see that he is a good man, even if the procedure is illegal at that time. When he did the procedure, as expected at the time, it was an extremely painful process for Minerva to go through, with a result, she died a sad, and a painful death, and “they indicted me, disgraced me,” (Masters 12). When the town of Spoon River found out that Dr. Meyers proceeded to do an illegal abortion on a young girl, people disgraced him and faulted him for being a bad doctor, and for malpractice as well. Not only did his action result in the town disgracing him, but he fell from grace when his wife found out he had