a jury of her peers
...items. They noticed that she was piecing together a quilt and that there was an empty birdcage present in the house. These items left them with a confused thought. First, the quilt had nice stitching all the way through except on one end. The stitching was so bad that it looked as if she was nervous about something. Secondly, the birdcage was empty. Not to mention that one of the hinges was pulled apart. While investigating, Mrs. Hale continues to feel guilty for not visiting more often. She knew that John Wright had a reputation of a good man, but on the contrary he was also known as a hard man. The fact of the matter is that Mrs. Wright was alone all day, and it would almost make sense that she would want the bird for some companionship. She tries to convince herself numerous times that she had stayed away because it wasn’t a cheerful atmosphere. Yet, the more she thought about it, the more she realized that maybe that’s why she should’ve come around. Moreover, Mrs. Hale discovers a pretty box in the sewing basket. Never would she have guessed that inside the box would be the bird, whose neck had been wrung. After this discovery, the pieces start to come together to Mrs. Hale. Mrs. Peters tries to persuade Mrs. Hale that there was no certainty to who killed the bird, but Mrs. Hale was obstinate about her logic as to what happened. The fact that the bird was buried in an appealing box shows that she had liked the bird. In addition, she makes the connection between Mr. Wright’s dislike for the bird and killing a thing that sings with the fact that Mrs. Wright used to sing and he killed that a long time ago. The discovery of the motive caused Mrs. Hale to feel even more responsible for Mrs. Wright’s actions. The picture of that girl, the fact that she lived as a neighbor to that girl for twenty years, and had let her die for lack of life, was suddenly more than she could bear. She continues to blame herself by making remarks such as, “I might have known she needed help”, and the fact that they lived close together but their lives were so far apart. Mrs. Hale even questions whether the lack of her presence could be considered a crime. The men were looking for something to connect Mrs. Wright to the actual murder; a motive. Mrs. Hale finally discovers the missing link as she goes through her things. In the process, Mrs. Hale even found herself commiserating the...